Poems And Stuff

Is There Something Wrong With Me?

What is wrong with me?
I’m just like you,
And you’re just like me.
Is the colour of my skin so ‘terrifying’,
That you can’t even look at me?

What is wrong with me?
You act like you can’t see me.
And if you do,
You look down on me like I’m a speck of dirt on your shoe.

What is wrong with me?
Why do you treat me like I have some disease?
You even have a separate part of the road to walk on,
Where ‘my kind’ is not allowed to be.

What is wrong with me?
You act like I’ll attack you if I’m standing too close to you,
Like if I’m some vicious, wild animal.
No!
I am not some rabid beast!
There is nothing wrong with me!

And your signs can’t change that:
“Caution Beware of Natives”,
Like if I’m some kind of Impundulu,
That would grab you and drain your blood for breakfast.

There is nothing wrong with me!
Just because you can’t accept that I have a different skin colour,
Does NOT mean you could take it out on me.
I deserve as many rights as you do,
Because I am a human being JUST LIKE YOU!
So stop trying to take my rights away.

There is nothing wrong with me!
My dark beauty does not make me a criminal.
It does not make me any lesser of a being than you.
For my God made me the way he wanted me to be,
And I am sure your God would frown down upon you if he were to see what you were doing to me.

There is nothing wrong with me!
So, stop invalidating my skin colour and treating me like a demon.
Just give me back my freedom,
So, we could co-exist in harmony,
Because there is absolutely, positively nothing wrong with me.

*Impundulu- It is a mythological bird like creature from South African folklore that was foretold to be able to shapeshift, and at times they were even said to be familiars for witches and witch doctors. In the context of the poem, we refer to this aspect of the myth where they were claimed to capture humans and survive off drinking their blood.

~Miya:)<3

I wrote this for my English SBA, based on racism (particularly apartheid), for school.