By Veronica Novy
When you look at me
What do you see?
If you could see my inner being what do you think it would look like?
I am a fire, I am a flame
There has been a torch within me that keeps my fire burning
When I think of me, I will tell you what I see
I will tell you what I want to be
I am lovely to my own eyes
I have journeyed to a new level of existence
I am beauty, I am desire
I can light the fire and put out the flame
I am a woman who has struggled for centuries
In a world full of images
My beauty is self contained and has been locked up for centuries
Silently waiting to erupt and escape to freedom
The image revealed to the world is sheer strength, noble and righteous
The woman that I wish to be in fact in reality has always been here
She now seeks an avenue, a pathway, a road that will lead her to the truth
Today, this woman is unafraid yet she still trembles with an unknown fear
Give her a reason to go on and questions her own existence as well as the norms of culture and society
And images
What was yesterday, in fact is not true today
Yesterdays truth will not lead us to tomorrow
The whispers, the echoes, the dreams, and the voices of my sisters past and present
Are beggin’ you to come listen
And make new choices for tomorrow
The woman today is ready for the challenge of today and tomorrow
The image of a Woman
My image is
Black
Strong
Real
Undeniable and beautiful
I am free
What you see
What you feel
What you sense what you hear are only fragments which encompass her whole body
The image is a total reflection
And that reflection is me!!!
