Just a girl

You believe you have a choice,

You believe you’re in control.

Search your heart, search inside your soul.

Everyone knows what’s best for you from the start.

You and they are worlds apart.

Who will catch you if you fall?

Who will hear your whisper’s call?

You’re powerless and feel small,

They have to keep your voice inside a wall.

Equality is a sketch on paper,

They can cover it whenever they want.

They take pride in false acclamations

And erase the loud and clear implications.

There are still thousands of jokes flying around,

Jokes that hurt and gain ground,

Jokes that hunt, bring you down

And never let you fly high.

They say it’s not okay to lie.

But lying that everything is okay is a chore,

You wake up and do it one day more.

Who wants a girl who’ll stand up for herself?

Who’ll unapologetically cut to the chase,

Who will love and embrace

Everything she is and everything she thinks?

Who will finally cut these unbearing strings

And let me open my wings?

If I were a man,

I’d live in blissful ignorance

And embrace quiet patience.

I’d break a heart and never look back,

I’d blindly strike and attack.

It’d be o to be angry,

To shout or yell,

To trust my rage and open up hell,

To get offended when it’s not my place

To do everything at my own pace.

But I’m only a simple girl.

Who can’t grasp the reality they photograph

Who watches them pass by and laugh.

What more can I ask them?

They see me as the crying wolf

When they bring up rule by rule.

I walk miles with a dream as my sin,

Everyone wants to win, and I don’t even know how to begin.

I have short hair, therefore I’m not a girl

I have an opinion therefore I’m insufferable.

I make mistakes so I’m not enough,

Being hurt means not being tough.

Discovering myself is a phase,

I’m weird so I deserve every gaze.

No means yes,

And my move doesn’t count in this game of chess.

But that’s not me.

It’s what they think I was born to be.

I’m free to make mistakes and try again,

To love whoever I want

To wear sneakers with a dress

To have a grasp to my yes.

I shouldn’t have to wear a suit to be taken seriously,

To feel alone and guilty when it's not my fault

To seek forgiveness just to be accepted,

To shout so I'm heard in a dispute

And be twice as good

Just to see me as they should.

They talk like there was never a war,

They act like it never happened before.

Boys will be boys,

But we have to keep making some noise.

Girls will be girls doesn’t exist

And unfortunately, there’s no twist.

I’m not stepping back,

I’m scared but on the right track.

My word is my only power

I keep my thoughts in an imaginary ivory tower,

Where I hide my rage

And build myself a better stage.

My story isn’t theirs to tell

It’s my time to fight and rebel.

I can be who I am

Because of all of those who fought for me

And left the future in my hands.

I’m the movement, I’m the freedom.

I take pride in who I am,

And I have the privilege to raise my voice and pick up my pen.

For all of those who swear not to care:

I’ve got a story to tell.

It’s history in progress

And nobody knows

How her story goes.