Secret Walls

As I play in the yard, with my neighbor friends, I am only six years of age

We are not the same, as we are different in color, though our arms, our legs, and our smile, mirror

The joy we share, the apples we eat fallen from my grandmas tree, the fence that divides us

Is on the property line, my family doesn't want me, to spend much time, because they say, we are too different of a kind

Maybe, but I can't see it, I look past the yard, the sky is covering the entire neighborhood, so I ask myself why?

Why, should I care if my skin is different, and my hair not of coal, my tears seem the same, my skinned knee, is bandaged by their mother

We continue to run together, and fly the kite in the field, whisper secrets, and play tag in the dark

I love the way we jump rope, and the bubble gum we share, the hop scotch we have drawn with chalk on the sidewalks

Now, my mother is calling for me, to get home right now, this instant, and when I arrive, she scolds me

Telling me, I can no longer play, I cry with the biggest, cry you could ever see, my heart fills up with emptiness

Invisible walls, built up so high, only created by grown ups who don't really know why, as I fall to sleep at night, I dream of these walls taken away

And once again, we play in the snow, building snowmen, and angel wings, smiling, and laughing, not knowing why

My secret will always be with me, and my friends of color, and other nationality, for our personality is so the same

As I will always remember, our small tiny hands holding each others, playing ring around the rosy, and skipping to race to the other side of the fence

I will never forget you, I will never stop loving you, all of the small times, the shortest of hours, the hide and seek, the memories so terrific

I am all grown up now, and my feelings are just the same, this will no longer be a secret, as the invisible walls have melted away

As the snow flies, our hearts still play