hey sis,

I love you.

things are hard right now.

things are hard all of the time.

but please understand that I love you more than anything else on this earth.
I stand in awe of the tight kinky curls that frame your head reminiscent of a halo.
your long shiny braids that flow past your waist and float you through the world.
the teenie weenie afro cropped close to your skull leaves me breathless time and time again.

the laughter that escapes from your lips, often mistaken for an abrasive cackle, is the reason for life itself.
a laughter that is unapologetic. a laughter that leaves you exposed and reveals a glimpse into your realest self.

a self that smiles in the face of trauma,

a self that dares to exists boldly in a place where it should not belong.

I love how you dare to exist boldy in a place where you should not belong.

I love how you dare to dance boldly in a place that is not understanding of you,

a dance that moves in rhythm with your laughter and tears, a dance that lifts you off the earth and into the sun. a dance that twists and turns and curves and stomps on its own time.

you dance boldly in a place that is not understanding of you

in a place that does not deserve you

nowhere deserves you

people stand in awe of your skin.

deep and brown

soft to touch but rough in reality coated with the agony of your mother, and your mother’s mother, and your mother’s mother’s mother.

soft to touch but hard to look at

hard to see

hard to accept

but I accept you sis
for all that you are,

you are not a one trick pony put on display for the world to see

you are a human

I give you permission to bark at anyone who has eyes that linger on you for too long,

I give you permission to scream loudly when they call you a goddess and then proceed to speak over you

I give you permission to exist.

to exist in time and space.

I love how you exist.

how you exist in time and space.

baby girl you are special.

you are the light, you are the love, you are the laughter, you are the pain, you are the anger, you are the frustration, you are the reason for it all.

hey sis

things are hard right now.

things are hard all of the time.

but please understand that I love you more than anything on this earth.