Ode to Melanin

We don't come in calico, Dalmatian spotted,
or in subtle agouti gradients.
Apart from freckles,
that dusting of pepper over salt,
we each get only one
paintbox number at a time.
Is it so a child cannot fail at coloring?
Some of us have no pigmentation
aside from their blood,
others have skins that put ink to shame.
Shield against the burning rays
and target for the exclusionists,
it stands in for a dog's breakfast
of other qualities unrelated to
saving a person's hide from our star.
Children think that it flakes off,
that it came to be via a curse,
that it has an unmistakable odor.
Maybe they thought a double-blind study
had discovered this bit of science fact
and that's why all the maps were drawn up
as any non-blind person might see.
Nobody's ever found a food to eat
that changes what you sport.
Don't blame the banker, the grocer,
the demon come up from some nearby pit
for the keys on the piano,
and don't praise them too much either.