I am the young melanin girl who was close to being wed

Wed to a man who I call my cousin

Married to a man who i've never seen

Married to a man whose scent I do not know

 

Ten years old not knowing why the women in my family struggled to have kids

It was because of the physical and emotional pain

Every day a girl is born in Mali the sahara desert

She is then set up to get her clitorst removed from a women

Who she has never seen

The face she does not know

The hands she has never felt

 

After getting it removed

The wedding bells begin

She is ten

She is set up

To marry

To marry the man

She called cousin

She is to become a child bride

 

Papa no she pleads

He doesn't listen

He doesn't care

Muslimah

She is

Muslimah she has no say

 

This is what I’ve seen

I am a young African American women

Who sees and hears all this

 

I'm tired of it

Tired of the salty tears touching my hand

Tired of hearing the question why and having no answer

 

This must change

What should I do?