I hear the way you talk
About how my skin is too dark
About how my name leaves a mark
That makes me foreign
In the country I was born in
You say “it’s a joke”
and we both know that’s not true
You say “it’s just a word”
So it can’t hurt you
But you don’t have my memories
What do you know about the damage it leaves?
Who are you to judge what’s right and what’s wrong
When you never had to question where you belong?
If it’s a joke, then why isn’t it funny?
If I’m welcome here, why do I feel like running?
And if fairness is real, why do I have to explain
The anger, the crying, the fighting and pain?
And why am I the one who’s overreacting
If I am the one who has what your lacking
Which is the willingness to accept
And the decency to respect
Those who have suffered and those who have cried
About those who have taken and those who have lied
Those who have been driven to insanity
By those who are entitled to vanity
But hey, if it doesn’t concern you
And doesn’t seem strange
It isn’t your issue
And there’s nothing to change…right?
© Selima Chowdhury 2023-02-19