I AM
I am
A chameleon.
My face shapeshifts,
Blends into that of so many
Cultures and races
who combine the somewhat pleasing combination
of olive brown skin,
dark brown eyes
and hair
"Oh, you must be Italian
Spanish
South American
Lebanese;
Part-Maori
Turkish
Persian?
Or is it maybe Indian?
But no, I'm insulting you."
No.
You are not.
The truth is much closer to that
than Mediterranean dreams,
Middle Eastern houris
Native American shaman shawled
Mysterious healer from deep within
the Amazon.
It seems
there is something of the exotic in me.
When I was young, in my time
in between
twenty
and thirty
-something
it would pulse through me
involuntary
a low tremolo
a contralto croon
the call of the sea-woman
reeling in
lost voyager men.
Funny that.
In my high school days
it was the blondes
I was envious of.
One girl -
by fourteen, fifteen
her breasts round and fully formed
her hair bounced in soft golden waves
Her eyes blue, her teeth so white
they gleamed -
Boys followed her scent
like Labrador pups
learning the trail of elusive reward.
Radiating Midas maid
all elements perfectly in place
to make
the Eighties Teen Dream -
I skulked, dark and cynical
tongue barbed with sarcasm
hiding behind the no-care front
and a poison pen.
I was sure of the power of my words even then
even as I despaired
my dark ugliness
would leave me ever
alone.
Now
my dark brown hair
is streaked with white
And I can no longer recall
its exact colour
layers of hairdresser dye have tinted it
red brown
dark auburn
a bit darker
a bit lighter
(my olive complexion
no longer glows just so)
the under layer closer to black
to hide the white
and I wonder
if it is time to let it
all just
go -
But I digress.
I am -
When I was young I would say
(more to myself than anyone else)
"I am
the new face of Australia"
I am
where we will all end up
When the races pour into each other
and white is tinted
with yellow and red
brown and black
and the hue
then diluted -
or sometimes enhanced -
again
All our skin tones will blend
A morass of casts -
of castes -
of chroma and tone
and who will care
any longer
or even
be able to tell?
I Am.