Skin

She stands on the playground tall and proud,
But the other kids, they shout the words out loud,
And she hides the tears in her eyes of blue,
Wanting to turn and run - doesn't know what to do.
So she stands with her hands covering her eyes,
Their words getting beneath her skin, they hypnotize -
And she stands in front of that mirror every night,
Nit-picking about the curves; she has to be just right.

He stands alone in the corner of an over crowded bar,
And outside, two white men are vandalizing his car,
The only colored man in the crowd, all eyes are set to stare -
To him and his skin; he acts as if he doesn't give a care,
But inside, he is cursing them for all their racial slurs,
Drinking away his memories - the room becomes a blur,
The bartender sighs: "Young man, you don't belong in a place like this,"
And as he walks out he whispers: "Equality among men doesn't exist."

She sits in the waiting room, tears lining in her eyes,
Holding her Mother's hand as she starts to realize,
The fear in the Doctor's face as he tells her the news,
And she hits her knees as she covers her baby blues.
Her hair is spotted, chunks misses all over her head,
She looks in the mirror and cries, remembering what he said:
"Just go on and live your life as if you were dying,"
Her peers knock her to the floor as she lays still, crying.

She stands alone amongst the faces of the busy streets,
And the eyes of sympathy are all that she meets,
But she walks on through her broken down dreams,
As her peers attempt to rip her apart at her every seam.
Sitting alone with her teddy bear and rainbow chalks,
She colors out beautiful pictures and begins to talk -
To a man that doesn't exist, but that does believe in her,
And silently she whispers that fantasy is what she prefers.

Precious tears fall down ashamed faces in the middle of the night,
When they think of themselves as such a horrific sight,
But white, black, brown - What's the difference in them?
We've all got a heart and a soul, so why condemn?
The skin that we are in just makes us who we really are,
Everyone of us gets an equal chance to be a shining star.
So remember, when someone tells you how you need to win,
It doesn't matter what they think of you, it's just skin.

-Jenna Elphick
May 16, 2007

((May be a bit confusing...it isn't my best, I know. But, the problems are: Overweight, Colored, Cancer & Downs Syndrome. Just wanted to open some eyes.))