Hey, It's Me

Hey, it’s me. The girl you would pass in the hall. The girl with the puff or the fro. The girl who looks innocent and pure. Hey, it’s me. The girl who suffers deeply. The girl who has cried herself to sleep a lot of nights. The girl who can’t trust easy. Hey, it’s me. The girl who’s fun and energetic. The girl who “really gets it”. The girl who “can’t possibly be struggling”. Hey, it’s me. The girl who tries to work out her emotions. The girl who can’t seem to get it right. The girl who’s struggling to survive. Hey, it’s me. The girl that makes you laugh. The girl who is goofy. The girl who jokes around anything serious. Hey, it’s me. The girl who can’t escape her past. The girl who can’t deal with everything. The girl who  needs a sweet escape. Hey, it’s me. The girl you told secrets about. The girl you thought wouldn’t find out. The girl who thought you were her friend. Hey, it’s me. Or do you really care? Right now all I see is a blank stare. Fix your face, I’m not done. Hey, it’s me. The girl labeled an outcast. The girl whose eyes have shone with tears like a damaged dam just waiting to overflow. The girl who just feels so alone. Hey, it’s me. The girl that’s “pretty”. The girl that’s “fine”. The girl that’s “cute”. Hey, it’s me. The girl that’s undefined. I am not something you can confine. I am a human being. Hey, it’s me. My name isn’t Darling. My name isn’t Baby. My name isn’t Shawty. Hey, it’s me. My name isn’t Lil Mama. My name isn’t Your Girl. My name isn’t Princess. Hey, it’s me. The misshapen lump that you feel you need to mold. The Queen made of Imperial Gold. The girl who can’t bear the cold. Hey, it’s me. The girl who raises her hand in the class for something other than the bathroom. The girl who apparently got 4 shades lighter because I stepped out of the conformity of the box that YOU decided to put me in. The girl who actually may excel in life, Oh no! Hey, it’s me. A black girl that’s highly intelligent. A black girl that actually picks up a book and reads. A black girl that apparently is white. Hey, it’s me. And what do you see? A black girl kissed by the sun and evenly spread out like the rays of the sun? Or a black girl that looks burnt by the sun and is constant trying to scrape off this blackness? Hey, it’s me. And what do you see? A black girl with kinky coils that appropriate her black culture? Or a black girl that is constantly trying to change her hair texture to fit the European standard of beauty because no one even let her know her natural hair was beautiful  from the beginning? Hey, it’s me. And what do you see? A girl in church singing a beautiful melody of God’s music? Or a black girl singing her heart out so that God can heal her with the problems she’s facing? Hey, it’s me. But now you know the truth. What you decide to do with it is up to you.