Don't wear anything too bright
And absolutely stay away from white.
Oh dear, finding you a guy
Would be your parents' plight !

Try this remedy and that cream,
With the hope of a fair skin to gleam;
But all it did was to make
My inferiority complex to scream.

Wish I had not paid heed
To the times I was being bullied,
But instead knew that
My skin color does not make me sullied.

I wish I could tell my younger self,
To not let it on my insecurities pinned,
That it's OK.
It is OK to be dark skinned.

No, it is not a compliment
To say my features are so prominent,
But only if I had
A fair complexion to supplement.

For fucks sake, it's just the melanin !
And that is none of my sin.
Why is it so difficult
To let that sink in ?

How long is dark skin still
Going to be considered a disgrace ?
How many more centuries until
Irrespective of skin colors,
We truly learn to embrace ?