//Brown Skin//

Years together 

I would resent my skin,

Wearing it like 

An armour of shame.

Because I was told

This skin I carry wasn’t beautiful 

Because being fair was lovely,

But being dark was a disgrace.

From advertisements to movies,

How we have this,

Instilled sense of beauty,

To maintain, to be perfect.

To be something you aren’t 

From a tender age,

I thought I wasn’t living 

Up to the standards of society,

Because of my dark skin.

Slamming my face into products,

To fit in, to look pretty,

Because if I didn’t,

I wouldn’t find someone,

As I wasn’t ‘lovely’ enough 

I was taught ‘to get a guy’

Just because I was brown, dark

Because all the boys drool over the ‘fair’ ladies

I was told to wear dark clothes

As it matches my skin tone

As yellow on my skin wasn’t authentic enough 

With years passing by,

Have I realised that,

Beauty in this world

Was measured up by

How fair you are

How skinny you are

How flawless you could be

But never embrace as you are

What if, we were taught to

Love ourselves as we are

So we wouldn’t grow up

Amidst the resentment 

With our bodies.