You and I

The following is an ode to the ones who suffer from racism or any other form of discrimination based on skin colour.

You and I are not the same,

you do not need to claim

that you won't steal every time you're out shopping,

or that you're not a spy, eavesdropping.

You're not looked at with suspicion,

and stared at like an exhibition.

You do not possess the cursed colour,

no one doubts you being a scholar.

Your marriage is not at stake,

as claimed by the aunties sitting by the lake.

You aren't called a child of maids,

every time you make those damned braids.

In a crowd, you don't feel alone,

like a clown in a circus being shown.

You and I are very different.

For those like me, it is apparent.

But you don't even see it sometimes,

how this treatment of us has become a crime!

It isn't just skin-deep anymore,

it messes with my peace and shakes my very core.

Yet you carry on unknowingly,

re-opening wounds on me stoically.

You and I will never be the same.

You will never have to write to ward off the daily blames.

~Khyati