One

• Shauna Ryan, Grade 12
• Poetry
• 2008

Liquid brown eyes, flowing like a river through a valley of darkness,
Teeth as white as the winter snow, sizable and sharp like ice
Lips, plump like a juicy, ripe peach, ready to burst with flavour.
Nose, shapely and round: button-like; sweet and pure.
All of this contrasted against her skin, as black as night.
Such beauty unrecognized by the cruel eye of humanity,
Discarded. Thrown to the side. All because of her shade.
Her zest for life fades away in the brutal words of mankind.
Love and laughter lost too. Torment and viciousness echo again and again.
A misfit. An outcast.
Why? Simple.
Because.
No reason to detest. Just... That’s all.
Sad isn’t it. Well?
Do something!
Smile. Care. That’s all.
It just takes one.