Like Other Girls

They tell you with a knowing glance,

As if it’s a phase you have to move past.

Taught to fit the mold that society bestows,

No matter how much it shrinks the heart you know.

Told to have ambition, but don’t go too far,

Tread the line between the land and the stars

All laid out in rules, silent and neat,

Made by those who claimed “girly” as less and weak.

Learning to despise the vibrancy of pink–the softness, warmth, and light,

To wear the muted armor built of black and white.

To rise above one’s womanhood, a predetermined fragility

With so many things to prove, just to be taken seriously.

But how can that feel right when you tread the very same path

Sown by the blood and courage of the women from the past?

From suffrage to rights, from work to fight,

A legacy forged with grace and might.

Igniting change, paving paths of inclusivity

Resilient, unyielding in the face of adversity.

It can never be a shame nor an embarrassment

To be the same as those girls, not any different,

Who carry warmth and color into every corner,

In all they touch, making life feel brighter and fuller.

So here’s to the sparkle, the glitter, the shine

Of women whose brilliance no walls can confine.

To stand among them is already a crown of pride,

Storms in their souls, stars in their eyes–

A chorus of thousands, fierce and free

Growing louder and louder, unapologetically.