a different shade of brown

A Spoken Word piece by Rachna Vohra

she was the first verse of a curse

of the shloks that he spoke

to evoke

the smoke

of our lies

and their cries

to despise

a love that had no eyes

that could not see

that he

was not like me

a different shade of brown

this is what we call

the fall

of it all

the degradation

of information

that turns lives into sensations

and love into donations

of support for a cause

because they are flawed

and cannot see

that he

is just like me

our skin

just a

different shade of brown

with their traditions

they go in opposition

with ammunition

to force us into submission

trying to drown us in guilt

for the love we built

so we would choose to separate

our fate

for the weight

of other people's words

no matter how absurd

because we are a

different shade of brown

what would they say

if we stayed

and mixed the color of our skin

in sin

would they love my child any less

would she not be blessed

but be condemned

to defend

a love that no threads could unmend

that chose to create in her a blend

of different shades of brown