AALIYAH

I never recovered.

Sleepless nights where all I could do was toss
Toss like a salad, everything being ripped to the seams
Pieces flying up and down like lettuce in a bowl
Only for the pain to be done, temporarily…

Take from me, take from my soul
As you put me on your plate and consume me
Think about where I come from, every piece of me
Separate, yet never will be equal under your eyes

You pick out the parts you don’t like
My tomatoes, my onions, my spinach, if you will
And you take only the parts you like
You ingest it, and to what?

You throw away those parts, down the trash they go
And they sit there, never going away
Never properly dealt with, never utilized, never seen

Are you happy now? You’ve cleaned me of what makes you sick,
Trauma never goes away, everything makes me—