by Jewell Ridley
All honor hail and praise
The world's latest sensation
All stare in glaring awe of
The world's greatest creation
The Strong Black Women
No better representation
Nothing can match the hype
Or the constant speculation
Cloaked and tightly sealed
From her head to her toes
Can anyone pierce her
Venerable black armor?
A Jedi princess since
The day she was born
Front line in the battle
So nothing can harm her
Ceaseless weight of this shell
Has invaded her soul
A facade to protect
Her true giving nature
Adorned with a crown
Made from envy and scorn
Dehumanized and despised -
The new millennium’s Darth Vadar
Will you see past this mask?
Will you dispel this myth?
Will you open your heart?
Will you accept and uplift?
This figment of the
Strong Black Women
Is nothing more than a fallacy
A false and graven worldly image
Designed to undermine her legacy
Blindly she recedes her soul
Cosigning on this treachery
Binding her flesh to this role
While conceding her humanity
Divorcing myself from the lies I’ve been told
God’s Truth can now be revealed
Releasing my faults, my fears, and my flaws
From this armor I can now be unsealed
Only God’s Grace can protect me from harm
Weapons of fear I no longer need
Envelop myself in the spirit of Love
Removing this mask so I can breathe.
I will take off this mask
I will dispel this myth
I will open my heart
Will you accept and uplift?
Photo Credit: Shutterstock
