“If beauty is light skin and light eyes,
I am not beautiful.
If it is long hair that extends to my waist,
I am not beautiful.
If beauty is slender hands and slight frames,
I am not beautiful.
If it is poised and perfect,
I am not beautiful.
If it is a name that sounds like a flower,
I am not beautiful.
It it is void of blemishes and wounds,
I am not beautiful.
If it is meek and cowarding,
I am not beautiful.
But,
If beauty is fire and broken glass,
If it is struggle and love,
If it is kindness,
If it is a body that has hurt,
If it is a mouth that smiles,
If it is hands that hold,
If it is a person who bleeds.
Then I am beautiful.
Do not stand beside your sister and hear them tell her that she is beautiful and look at yourself and see that your body does not negotiate with itself under the same terms.
You get to decide what’s beautiful,
Always define beauty using yourself.”
