For you: She does not know her beauty She thinks her brown skin has too many flaws If she could see her image in the Unogbo River where her mother was born She would know But the city holds no clear streams West side streetlights shade the sunset’s miracles And the concrete covers the soft memory of the earth’s unborn seed Black is the color of her press and burned hair She thinks her curls are too tight and short If she could feel her natural birth locks blow in Arimogija’s fresh breeze On the hill her father once stood She would know But the girl does not know her own beauty She thinks her lips are too thick If she could hear Benin men whisper thoughts across the Atlantic ocean Praying to touch her heart to win her for just one kiss She would know…but She thinks her eyes are dark and troubled No one told her ebony was the color of the universe’s wings She thinks her nose is too flat Her breasts too small Her legs too long She never learned how to dance you know… Never learned how to run naked on the bank of a golden pond Embracing her existence guided by the light of a tropical dawn She forgets her name means Precious child who harbors the beauty of an ocean pearl She forgets she received her soul from her grandmother Adopted the spirit of her mother If she could recall the celebration they had at her birth she would know… If I could reach her She would know I would make it so there was cause for her to know That she is more than a motherless child Victim of an impressionable fate Helpless before an inconsistent society’s interpretation of what beauty stands for But I cannot reach her… If she chooses to be blind Only she can choose to see But the city holds no clear streams West side streetlights shade the sunset’s miracles And the concrete covers the soft memory of the earth’s unborn seed Poem written by Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Aug 2013 20:03:03 +0000
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