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When black meets betrayal

She did everything she could 
And yet somehow it wasn't enough

She did everything right
Yet she still lost the fight

From the very first moment She was born
She was was Stripped of her voice 
There were complications with her mum
But before they could help she was gone
Her father was falsely imprisoned 
The child was silent
But there was a faint heartbeat
A glimmer of hope 
For the daughter 
As her cries echoed across the hospital


She'd been trapped in a box
An incubator
For most of her life the hospital was her home
The doctors and nurses became her family making sure she wasn't alone
But when she was older
The walls spoke to her
With each crack in the wall
The truth Of her mother's death began to unfold
The very same people who she called family were the ones who made her an orphan

She was never taught the rules of survival 
She was surrounded by all white doctors 
Her parents were gone
She felt like she'd been failed by the system 
Those around never helped with hair
And when she would try they would stop and stare
Behind Her back they'd call her a nightmare
They thought she could not hear but
She knew What they meant by a comment like that
From then on she swore they would never see her crack
She had realised that she was black
In that moment her innocence had left something she knew she'd never get back

She had noticed she was the only black person in the ward
She knew she was hated
When she was constantly ignored
While all of the others got continous support
But when she was in pain
Their eyes filled with disdain
Calling her dramatic 
Gaslighting her health making her feel pathetic 

In moments like this she wanted her mother
It killed her knowing that they were the ones who murdered her
She wished she could have someone to love her 
She was the only one without a mother
In this hospital she felt like a prisoner
Her mental health began to crumble
When she opened up They told her she was being a problem
That others had bigger struggles

By the age of twenty
Her health had worsened 
She begged For help but nobody had listened 
And one random night her body had succumbed
Her cause of death,
Racism

Copyright © Layla Riley-Hill

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