BEHIND THE BLACK SCENE

Do not scourge me.
Do not tear my young conscience apart.
Do not drop a drop
Of inferiority complex into it.
I will tell you why.

Do not tell me I am an orphan:
That word pricks my heart till it bleeds.
Do not tell me this in my fellows' presence:
My fellows who are luckier than I am.
I will tell you why.

If I say "See, two boys is fighting",
Do not tell me I am stupid.
Who has created a brain before?
No one! so do not say I am stupid.
I will explain something to you...

Look at me. Look at me very well.
You see a neat black skin, right?
Is the skin what makes you to tell
Me that my future is not bright?
That is a fallacy!

As you see me, I seem hapless;
I seem to know nothing.
But truth is, I am not hopeless:
I really know something.
That is a reality!

ISAAC ESSOUN