Beauty

We feel it early on
The pain of becoming beautiful
From early on we are taught
That beauty exists
Somewhere outside of ourselves
To be sought after in endurance
No one answers our pleading eyes
Why must it hurt?

All this pulling and tugging at my scalp
Is there something wrong with my curls?
Must my hair be bone straight for me to be worthy?
I have held these questions at the tip of my tongue
Waiting patiently for an answer
A valid reason for our narrow views
Of what beauty is.

To this day, no answer has sufficed
All I have gotten is silence, acceptance, and resignation
It doesn’t have to be this way
We are the ones to set the stage
For those coming after us
Beauty is not pain
It never has been.