You said that I represented evil.
The shadow of the night
glistened on my skin.
You blatantly associated me
with tar because my melanin
glowed under the sun.

You said that my existence was
a misrepresentation of beauty.
So, you wrapped me under your
arm like a clutch bag
and led me through
the dark alleys.
Ashamed, you couldn’t risk the
possibility of anyone recognizing you.

I wore black at your instruction
because it matches my dark complexion.
“Other colors
don’t flatter your hue, darling”.
I became as invisible as air.
An ugly portion cut out
of stained shirt.
A televised version of hell
on earth.
Violated but not pursued
for love.

You preferred taking my body
with the lights off because
the illusion of the night somehow made
you believe that you were making
love to the light skin woman
across the street.
You didn’t need
to look at my ugly face.
I couldn’t even moan or scream
in the heat of the moment because
I couldn’t risk my white teeth
glowing in the dark like a ghost
and scaring you off.

The word “beauty” didn’t rhyme
with my essence.
You didn’t propagate the seeds.
We couldn’t go to the zoo
beacause I was
all the wildlife that you needed
You single-handedly destroyed
me with your negativity and
tried to mix
my dark chocolate
with milk.

***

Link to the Italian translation