My identity was smeared
Right across my god damn face
Yours was hidden
Woven in like intricate lace
Who were you?
The world did not know
A mystery gone unanswered
Like each complex flake of snow
Who was I?
An open book
Defined like a dictionary
Just by giving my face one look
With a look they discerned
I must simply be black
You were a curiosity
That kept drawing them back
Standing in the shadows
They thought I blended right in
Simply shadows, simply darkness
No curiosity about what was within
Look inside I begged
I just wanted them to comprehend
Not just Black and not just White
Not just race or gender or religion
What I wanted them to comprehend
Was what it meant to be a true blend
They didn’t’ want underneath, they didn’t want me
It was fair, I thought. So, I never stopped fighting
I yelled and I screamed. I hoped and I dreamed.
And eventually I found another outlet in writing
I thought and I wrote
And that writing said
Wake up and just try
Try to understand what’s in my head
I wished and I waited for some minute little change
But, somewhere, somehow, my wishes got lost in translation
So I yelled and I screamed and I made a big fuss
At first they simply put me on probation
But, finally, when they’d had enough
They boxed me up and sent me away.
They said I was crazy. They said they were sane.
And I ended up somewhere in utter dismay.
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