Skin

by NotCityGirl

May 11, 2018

I was born a pale woman

pale in skin,

pale in thought

pale in existence

yet with each new thought,

with each new dawn my soul began to take on color

I learned of the battle being waged on my sex

the battle of color, superiority,

of absolutism

I watched as the most beautiful women around me as the were eaten into

suicide of their minds, and some of their bodies

but worst of all, I watched as the world devoured their souls

telling each that she was not ideal, and never would be

I listened as my society informed women there was no set ideal

thus creating the unattainable paradox of never enough

to a woman of slender qualities she may be informed she is too little

to a woman of curvature she is told she is too much

women are not only beautiful

for beauty is in the eye

women are masterpieces of the soul

for we are the backbone holding america aloft

we are who feed the men who tell us we are unfit for work

we are they who are told to be silent

we are the ones who shout ‘Me too’ yet are not heard

or, perhaps the world hears us, yet lacks comprehension

you see, i have always longed to be a woman of color,

i wanted to have dark skin, dark hair, dark eyes

to me that is who beauty is,

the women who slaved under a pale supremacy

perhaps it is my shame at my predecessors

that causes me to long for another color on my body

even within this hope of mine to one day wake up and find I lack my paleness

i one day realized, it is not my skin that matters, but rather it is the color of my soul

my soul is every tear that has been shed

my soul is every drop of blood we have bled

my soul is the color of every eye that has seen injustice and accepted it as their reality

my soul is no longer pale as my skin

oh no, my soul is the color of my kin

for i am not alone in my suffering

i am surrounded by the women who know what it means to fight, bleed, and hope

i am supported by the women who are remembered for their words of might

i am empowered by the women whose names were never known

i am loved by women

who do not care of the color of my skin

for they are the color of my soul

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