When I Was 8 Years Old My Mama Gave Me A Brother
I Didn't Know At 14 That I Would Have Another
We Looked So Much Alike It Was A Scary Resemblance
We Ain't Need To Call Maury To Know We Were My Dad's Children
At 9 Years Old I Was Adjusting To The Drama
Of Living With My Grandma While She Argued With My Mama
Taking Trips To Lebonah Almost Every Other Weekend
Listening To The Sound Of A Heart Monitor Beeping
At 12 Years Old My Self Esteem Was Getting Tested
For Me To Feel Accepted I Had To Be Big Breasted
I Thought I Needed More Thighs I Thought I Needed Full Lips
Thought I Needed Long Hair That Fell To My Fingertips
But The Worst Thing That Happened During My 12th Year
Was To Find Out My Grandfather Was No Longer Here
I Saw Him Down In A Casket Through The Wettest Of Eyes
And As They Lowered Him Down I Said My Final Goodbyes
At 15 I Was Suffering To Escape My Own Head
I Was Dreaming Of Death As I Laid In My Bed
And I Couldn't Confess To Wanting Out Of This Life
So At Night In The Darkness I Pulled Out The Kitchen Knives
And I Would Look At Them Closely And Ask How Much Could I Bleed
And Wonder How Lines Look Underneath My Shirt Leaves
But I Never Did That Cause I Was Way Too Scared
And To End Up In Hell Was Something I Deeply Feared
At 16 Years Old All I Wanted Was Change
To Not Be Thought Of As Nothing When Someone Spoke On My Name
All I Needed Was Someone To Love Me Like A True Friend
All I Asked For Was Blessings I Knew Only God Could Send
I Just Wanted To Be Pretty And Known By The World
But Instead I Was Only Kiara The Skinny Girl
And It Pains Me Today The Limits Given To Me
Until I Found The Right Path When I Was 17
But Although I Was Found I Got A Little Too Wild
It Hurt To Hear My Mom Say "What Happened To her dear Child
We Argued So Constantly That All You Heard Was Our Shouts
One Day I Got So frustrated That I Ran Out Of The House
Because I Just Couldn't Take What Was Becoming Of Me
I Needed More Than My Glasses To See The World More Clearly
I Had To Look At Myself And Know That I Did Belong
I Had To Take The Time Out So I Could Right My Wrongs
But I'm 18 Now And I'm Doing Much Better
I Buckled Down In My Books And I Got Myself Together
I've Learned That Beauty's Inside And That's What People Should See
I Thank God That I Learned Exactly How To Be Me
