Do you see my torment and regrets in places buried deep?
Or the words left unspoken, do you see my unsung grief?
Do you see the need to please you?
The need to make you smile?
Do you see my longing for approval
despite knowing my attempts are futile?
Do you see the burden of a people?
Accumulated through generations of slavery?
The cries of despair from a mother
as she is separated from her baby?
Do you see me through the eyes of my gender?
Demanding to be seen and heard?
In this male-dominated society
which still has so much to learn?
Or do you see my timeless nature?
The part of me that has survived every trial?
The part that is endless and eternal,
the part that lives outside time?
Do you see we’re not so different?
That in this life we’re all just passing through?
Tell me, when you look at me,
do you see you too?