Blue eyes
Peer at me
every week
over the wooden pew
I share
with my husband
A child’s face framed
by a halo
of golden curls
I smile but
she doesn’t smile
back
I’m certain she has never
seen white teeth against brown
skin in her church
before
Week after
week
I smile
and her blue eyes
widen
Until
“Mom,
she’s black!”
I smile
and she smiles back
her riddle solved
Her mother blushes
a polite pink
Eyes that dare not
meet mine
The girl’s smile disappears
beneath a gentle scolding
Mine disappears
behind stifled tears
For a brief moment
I had been seen
through the eyes
of a child
Open
Innocent
Curious
In her wisdom
she sees the truth
her mother cannot
We are
sewn together
by the common threads
that make us
human
not
torn apart
by the one black strand
that marks me as
Different
Now
I am invisible
once again
Feared because I am
Unknown