"Open your eyes!" they say giggling and teasing.  

The first time I heard this I was confused.  

I asked them to explain the joke

but they giggled even more

pulling their eyes taunt and speaking unintelligible words. 

"Open your eyes." they say with hair flips and chuckles.  

I raise my eyebrows and widen my chestnut eyes

lined with black to enhance their size.  

Can't they see that I'm trying to fit in? 

I thought cosmetics made my eyes normal sized? 

"Open your eyes?" my mom shouts enraged.  

Smudged smoky streaks line my face.  

I beg and bargain with her

not to take away my makeup.  

She is mad that I am ashamed of my ethnicity.  

"Open your eyes!" they say, 

My eyesight is not very good 

but I refuse to wear my glasses.  

Now I can not see the notes on the board  

and now I do not even want to ask for help. 

"Open your eyes!" they say waving a paper in my face.  

The paper is my test that I made an F on.  

What is going on? 

Where did I go wrong? 

Aren't I supposed to be smart? 

"Open your eyes." I tell myself.  

Noticing how when everyone is trying to be the same

sometimes it is way better to look different

to be different.  

"Open your eyes!" I tell my mom 

As I reveal my makeover.  

The makeup artist made my eyeliner winged.  

"She likes her eyes to look wide." my mom whispered.     

I laughed as the makeup artist told her that it was what I wanted.  

"Open your eyes." the optician asked politely  

as she placed contact lenses into my eyes.  

I blinked as my world adjusted

and crystal clear images swapped out the once blurry. 

I peeked into the mirror and loved who I saw peeking back.              

"Open your eyes!" I urge myself

holding my graded test in my hands.  

I slowly crack one eye open

and squeal in delight at my A+.                 

I sit a little taller and hold my head a little higher.  

"Open your eyes," I read in Psalm 34:8

"and see- how good God is.  

Blessed are you who run to him." 

I thank God everyday  

for making me this way.  

Open your eyes.  

See your beauty.  

See your uniqueness.  

See that being you and loving you

is what makes you Flawless.