My Voice
And My Truth
You will not look at my skin and make me feel bad,
For I know my skin is beautiful,
As it shows the pain of my brethren.
You will not look at my eyes and make me feel bad,
For I know my eyes are beautiful,
As they hold the stories of a whole nation.
You will not look at my hair and make me feel bad,
For I know my hair is beautiful,
As it’s loaded with memories of my elders.
You will never look at me and silence me,
For I know my voice is beautiful,
As it gives life to the truth of a people.
My skin, my eyes, my hair, my voice are not yours to take.
They belong to a world that
Needs to hear the truth, to reflect it on its worldly skin.
You may try to take what you think is yours,
Though much of the time you are taking another’s,
But you may never take what I do not intend to give.
You will never take my truth and my voice,
As they no longer belong to me alone,
And I know that in them lie my power and my worth.
