Lovely

How lovely you are

With locks that otherwise would defy gravity

And eyes that pierce into the agony within one another with still

The strength to keep your head held high

As the world makes its progress at the expense of your spine.

How lovely

The sound of your stride,

The glare from the shine of your grin,

Wide and full of pride.

No wonder they try to covergirl your womanhood with shades never dark enough.

You are

The closest being to a goddess imaginable

As you carry on generations of fighters. War against you wages yet you persist

Dignified by the histories that got you this distance from your ancestry.

A new life

Under cloaked circumstances is created to make you wonder is it worth the fight

As you March for the right to yourself.

How lovely can you become

When even your brothers are shaming you for fame,

Misnaming you as the screens paint you, as a portrait of pleasure and nothing more,

Filling you with the desire to look common,

Weighing down your hair to be Rapunzeled into work by affirmative action, and

Tossing your modesty for the sake of safety.

They taunted you until you accepted that this emotional pain was acceptable,

But you...

Are exceptional.

Loving your sisters with the power of Parks,

Martinez,

al-Azwar,

Makeda,

And Awashonks behind you has become natural.

Your battle scars may not be as notorious as the steps you took to gain them or

As dark as the skin of which tales are told,

But you silence the cries of your body like the anesthesia you were never given.

Painfully you sing your name with honor

Creating a chorus of voices.

How beautiful.

As lovely as the chant of freedom

Whether it be blood from birth or tears from hurt

You glow.

You're a pretty girl...

And you're a phenomenal woman.

Too lovely you've become for equality

Though that's all you ever asked for.

You may stand next to the predator and be seen as the lesser,

But you're a tower founded by prejudice.

Overall

You see what others can't.

In your silence lie lessons,

In your presence lie blessings,

In you lies perfection -

Flawless layers of love cemented by the foundations of hate they counter.

You live in a world that sees you as a mother

And treats you as other.

You rise like a rose and nurture your thorns.

You know what they can do to the hands that grasp them

So you are patient,

Virtuous.

What makes you a wonder

Can be seen,

But your loveliness

Is felt as deep as the soul can reach.

You are bright,

You are a promise of progress,

And you

Are so

Lovely.