Brown Girl in a White Dress

BROWN GIRL IN A WHITE DRESS 

Every other morning,

I would wonder why I even woke up.

Living in a dream is so much easier-

Full of fairies, angels and white.

 

But my reality is dark,

Confined to my brown body.

So, I would always wear a white dress-

I was a brown girl in a white dress.

 

Before seeing the mirror,

I would hurry and put the dress on.

It covered me from head to toe --

That gave me confidence.

 

But soon, that wasn’t enough,

I still didn’t feel pure.

So, I admitted myself for a surgery --

To change my colour completely.

 

While I waited for my turn,

I saw a brown girl in a brown dress walk out of the clinic,

My heart skipped a beat for I knew her.

She used to be a white girl in a white dress.

 

And then it hit me:

Nobody is born to satisfy society standards.

True beauty lies locked in the heart --

But I couldn’t discover mine as I tried to unlock with another’s key.

 

While I had this epiphany,

The surgeon had been calling out my name repeatedly.

I ignored his calls and dashed back home--

For I had something I needed to do.

 

I tore my white dress and ripped it to shreds,

I then shoved it into the fireplace.

Watching it burn gave me a solace I hadn’t ever known--

I wasn’t a colour anymore, I was me.