Trapped in a bottle

A bottle so full of so many feelings

Hurt, Pain and Happiness

I need to give a message to the world

Of these feelings I feel deep within the

Beating of my soul

Trapped in a mist of emotions

I want to let it all out

Let it fly freely

Soaring highly above the beautiful blue sky

And let the earth soak it within its layers

And let it be gone forever

Never shall I see it for then I will be in

A painful moment of distress

This is what I feel,

I feel hatred all around

People see me as a terrorist

But not as a person with a beating heart, that is alive

That feels the hatred, the pain within and hears the

Constant bickering of people who are prejudice

I feel hurt, I feel badly

When people look down on me

Is it because of my color?

Or my religion

I haven’t done anything

I have an innocent soul

It hurts when they glare at me as if

I’m a creature from outer space

Or when they give me a bad look

As if to say I don’t like her

Look at what she’s wearing

They don’t know

It is terribly painful

When they pull on this cloth I wear

Just to see if I’m bald?

Don’t they know I go home and cry myself to sleep?

Cause I can’t bear to hold the pain anymore

Cause they’ve hurt the pride within

The dignity I hold in myself

They say words don’t hurt

They do hurt when they tease you or laugh at you

Because of this thing you wear they don’t know it’s a

Symbol for what I believe in

They’ve hurt me not physically as in a bruise or a cut

But emotionally and painfully

These words they call me like an African buddy

Scratcher and many other words have haunted me

All my life I just can’t seem to erase them off my mind

That’s how it feels when they torture you

When they ripped your heart out

When they steal your most prized possessions

Like dignity and pride

They think that the teasing the discrimination

Made me weaker

Actually, it made me have faith in myself more

To be able to believe in myself

To appreciate my culture and religion

To become a stronger in the heart

Soul and mind

And never let anyone hurt the soul that

Provides blood for me everyday

Deep within the thickness of that red blood

There is that person who is saying

I am willing to grow

To break out of that shell of sadness

And view the positive side of the world

I never saw before

To feel the wondrous feeling of happiness and love

Hate doesn’t make me weaker

But sure does make me stronger

As I am ready to enter the side of the world

I never saw before

To the feeling I never felt before

I will shout one last time

I am ready!

No more ‘I’m I trapped’?

I am free!

Kujegi - MS 118 - Grade 7