When she stops pretending

“Black women aren't here to save the world while dying in silence.” - Mikki Kendall

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When the little Black girl stops pretending,
the universe quakes with fear.
When she stops masquerading,
the world chokes on the lies
her sisters believed

She can no longer
be molded and shifted.
She can no longer
be tricked into trusting
the words of those who
don't want her to know of her unyielding power.

When the little girl stops smiling for others
and starts living for herself,
they run in confusion.
Unable to function
because she is no longer
the body they can control,
the soul they can contain,
or the mind they can limit.

She dances and sings with abandon,
each step echoing
a warning to those who come near
that she will not follow.

She cannot be consumed.
And she has become the alchemy of
effortless and fortitude,
residing side by side.

When the little girl stops hesitating,
none can stop her.
The words “doubt” and “worry”
become mirages of the past,
and her present is filled with
can, will,
yes, and always.

Her sight
is no longer blocked
by the perceptions of those
who never could perceive
her light
or comprehend her majesty.

When the little girl
stops silencing herself,
warriors are birthed,
movements are unleashed,
and her back becomes the horizon,
from where her descendants
will see the sun
stretched far into our future.

She is boundless.

And when a little girl remembers
she is here
for purpose
with passion,
in power,
the fires of her fury
will burn the falsehoods
that her mothers and grandmothers were told
and light the way for her daughters.

When a little girl stops forgetting ,
she remembers the deity
she is
and finally
becomes a woman.

For her presence and her memory
will become
our much-needed rest
and our unending revolution.

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