I need to shed this skin <br />To rip this flimsy fabric <br />from my frail body <br />Which only conceals me <br /> <br />I need to pluck every grain of hair <br />Which seems to confuse and cause dispair <br />If this is what it takes for you to see me <br />I will peel this skin <br />like an orange that bleeds <br />When cut too deep <br />To liberate self <br />From the accusation of a colour <br />That pre-paints destiny <br />Fate and status in this world <br /> <br />I will tear and rend this skin <br />Till nothing is left but me <br />And I stand naked <br />bruised and blood-dripping <br />Will you see me then? <br />Could you really see me? <br />Coloured colourless, me <br />No different from you <br />I breathe the same air <br />Feel the same pain <br />Cry the same tears <br />I smile and laugh and bleed <br />like you, no different <br /> <br />My skin, just a cover <br />Like the various tints <br />and shades of fabrics that clothe our bodies <br />Yet you insist to alianate me <br />To segregate and discriminate me <br />Why hate me? Why stereotype me? <br />Because of a colour? <br />If we were to strip the rainbow of its colours <br />Could you imagine the beauty lost? <br />But the rainbow, a thing of beauty <br />Of mystery and wonder <br />A thing of colour <br />Continues to spread itself across our skies <br />A testimony to us all<br /><br />Cheryl Griffith<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/skin-27/
