Cloth on my face

It’s just a cloth on my face

It’s just a cloth on my face

Don’t look at me so

Don’t raise the eyebrows

Don’t turn your faces

Don’t ignore my views

Don’t make judgments about me

It’s just a cloth on my face

I am scared to go ‘all black’ today

Because I am scared to hear ‘ninja’ in the silence that spreads

Each day I adorn myself with ‘colour’

While inside the voiceless comments suffocate me

I dress while always fearing their ‘liberalism’

I am scared to go out today, though I wonder

Isn’t it just a cloth on my face?

I see people I know pass by me

Every time I have to stop and wave at them

I have to wait for them to recognize

I have to wait for them to see

I have to wait for them to acknowledge

Every time I wonder, why don’t you see?

Don’t sell me excuses of how the cloth hides me

It’s just a cloth, there is so much more to me

The way I walk

The way I speak

Says a lot about me

If you only cared to stop and see

Don’t you dare sell me excuses about how you failed to see

As soon as I walk in a room

The cloth on my face stands out more than me

A silence spreads and eyes bore into me

Each glance is loaded with judgment

Each person maintains a distance

I want to ask so much

What is it that repels you so much?

It’s just a cloth on my face

I want to scream out to you

I want to be heard

I want to be seen

I want to be known

Because there is so much more to me than the cloth on my face