I AM AFRICAN (NO AMERICAN NEEDED)

I AM BLACK.

Painted in reference to God’s night sky,

So loved by his sun,

I received its kiss a thousand times.

I am my brothers and sisters in arms,

Stolen from paradise across the seas.

I am the beauty you thought you could take.

I am the fruit you hung in the trees.

But I am also the powerful queen,

A loving mother, a loyal friend.

I am the bridge between life and death.

I am beginning. I am end.

Return me to my kingdom of diamonds.

Return me to my palace of gold.

Ethereal beauty worshipped in heaven,

My skin is written in stories untold.

This country was built on the small of my back.

My brothers and sisters stand by me tall.

Universes collide inside my eyes.

I am everything except nothing at all.