ORPHAN CHILD

One day when I was not yet six

I found in the early morning

A baby doll lying lost upon my porch.

I wondered who could have left it there

So naked and alone

A chocolate brown round chubby baby doll,

Just the right size for my child hands.

I scooped it up fast from the cold, cold stone

And warmed it in my arms.

Carrying it inside, I took clothes from my other dolls

To make my new child feel at home.

I smoothed my hands over her tight black curls

And laid my cheek against the smooth dark rose of hers.

I looked with love into her shining eyes

And smiled my heart at her pink baby smile.

My childhood friends, though, thought my baby doll strange

With her dark skin:

They’d never seen brown baby dolls.

I began to wonder why I had never seen

Another sweet brown baby doll

Though I looked in every toy display

Of every store I knew.

So, I asked my mama why my baby doll was brown.

And my mama told me

There were mamas and papas

Who were darkly brown

And their babies were deep brown, too, which was why

My orphan baby was so warmly chocolate brown.

I did not really understand at all,

But I loved my orphan child of brown

Until I grew too old for dolls.

It was then I learned

There were people afraid of brown,

Who hated Black,

And that white could be an ugly word.

It was then I first knew that I was White.

#RaceAwareness #Childhood #DollsandChildhood