I'M BLACK, I'M BEAUTIFUL!

The scars on my skin are beautiful, 

From the torture, from the harassment, from the pain, 

The lines and designs, colors different from black, 

The scars I get are my gain. 

So I may tell my children, 

When I once fought for my rights, 

But I am black, so that wasn't possible, 

I'm afraid I've lost the ability to fight. 

 The earth knows my pain, 

for she watched akimbo while I looked disdained. 

Disdained, with face bleak and shrewd, 

Of the insults and abuse I lived through. 

The dos and don'ts made by some, 

Which stripped fully me from all, 

Made its way to the crux of my strength, 

I'm drained, weak, and shy of further lengths.

 For I am black, I guess it's okay,

I'm undermined, treated with brutal force, 

Crippled with anxiety and dead end jobs, 

Till the pain transcends through my skull to my thoughts. 

But the scars on my skin serve no justice, 

To the weight of the hate in my heart, 

Cause the equality you preach is a facade, 

My ruffled emotions are evidence, no doubt.

 Come forth behind truthful tongue, 

And tell only my rightful wrong. 

 hide behind a better and justified cause, 

And not this shameless way of despising my colour.

I am not wrong by nature, yes!  

For even the glow when 

the sun meets my skin tells. 

I carry not a mixture or mix of tussle, 

I am black, I'm beautiful! 

Maymunah Kadiri

Aj Maverick