I can tell you are self conscious

And only love yourself in the dark

With eyes closed you find it easier to a make smile as images of yourself pass you by

Images no one else can judge

You struggle to accept that someone will love you beyond your self perceived imperfections 

Visual perception, is all society cares about

So you change the way you appear

You believe your nose doesn’t sit right

Because of your curves your clothes are too tight

So through your clothes everyone sees all the stretched out marks you try to hide
You self diagnose,  

dark chocolate skin is a disease caused by too much melanin, 

A pigment you wish was a figment of your imagination

You draw embraced on conclusions made by magazines

Cover girls are only beautiful when wearing a size 4

So your soul tears at the seams

No matter how hard you try, it always seems

You will never be the girl of someone’s dreams

You wish to live through your own

Making plans about how she’ll be prettier than mommy

She won’t take forever to love her skin

She’ll accept that chocolate and a thick waist can be delicious too
You compete with those who hurt like you

Because you need to be better than someone

Your idea of sisterhood is tainted

Maybe because everything on you is painted

From eyebrows to that lip gloss smile

Your joy is a pretense ending every night when you wash your face away

But the thoughts still linger

And you still wonder

How many thought you weren’t beautiful 

How many lied to get you to take off your clothes for a momentary escape

Or just said it because they felt you needed something to distract you from your most obvious flaw

That you don’t feel you deserve to be loved at all
People can’t love broken things

So while you hide your broken spirit

You forget there is more to it

That beauty is not defined by one standard

Or written by one author

Body shaming is something prominent in our generation

But have you ever considered that the reason for your internal commotion

Is because somewhere inside you realizes that even broken parts have their purpose

There is more to you than meets the surface

You don’t need a man to complete you

Society has no right to rate you

The only person you need to be beautiful for, is you