Skin

Who decided that our skin was tainted

Anything that isn't light and innocent

Light and free

Is an enemy to purity

The skin is what decides who we are

Even when you try to take on another skin

They still judge based on the one first draped over your bones

When we don't want to be our reputation and our skin

We could wear a costume to be safe for awhile

To be someone else

My skin doesn't matter when the clothes on it make me someone new

Someone clean of humanity

Someone known

Someone loved

Or so we thought til they saw through a boy's costume

They didn't see him through the costume, though

They saw his skin

They didn't see a friend

They saw something dark

They hated his skin

In spite of the character over it

And the human inside it

And they stabbed him in the back with his own sword

Through the layers

Costume

Skin

Human

We resort to acting and hiding and parading in costumes to feel safe

But we're learning that hate doesn't see the surface

Nor what's underneath

Hate only sees skin