My innocence is white as the pristine veil of the bride
The cold isolation I feel when you ignore me is also white
The light that shines in my eyes with hope and laughter is yellow
When you resent me, yellow is the fear and sickness of my heart gone hollow
The beautiful earth that gave birth to me and you is brown
Brown is the dirt on me when you throw me down
Black is the power and authority of my written word
My anger at your injustice is black and so is all the hurt
Then there are all these colors that we experience together -
The red that flows through our veins, the blue that covers us all,
The green that we breathe and depend on
The pink, the fuchsia, the crimson, the peach, the violet -
In our setting suns and sun rises
Yes, I am a person of color and so are you.
We are all people of color in a colored world with every hue.
(Inspiration for this poem was a conversation with my daughter here.)
