A gasp for air, a baby’s cry
Her figure small, her tears not shy
She enters earth without a self
Her soul a canvas for society to sell

Her brother coos the same as she
They look at life complacently
With equal needs to live and thrive,
But by societal views they will derive

By seven years, her fate is mapped
She cannot prosper, her goals are trapped
Within a web of what should ‘be’
“For nothing” she is free

The ways of life her mother shows
Domestic work is all she knows
Submission is her strongest trait
According to Freud, it’s all innate

She dreams of the mark she’ll leave behind
A leader…President?
Her hopes are blind.

A decade later her master calls
He greets her at the wedding hall
Within the band upon her finger
Her destiny no longer lingers

She’s but a body
For him to hold
An empty soul
Of which to mold

He’s out at work and out to play
She stays inside and waits the day
For his return. She’ll do her part
To make him glad
He holds her heart

Around her friends the colors show
She’s not as stiff without her beau
She always keeps her spirits high
Despite the fact she must comply

To all she is believed to be
Gentle. Soft.
She disagrees

Eventually her kids have grown
She shows them what her mother’s shown
Despite what she believes is right
She continues on a boundless flight

As time goes by, her days are numbered
She prepares to sleep an endless slumber
Equally we come to die
So why must only some comply?

Reflecting back upon her years
She comes to feel her greatest fears
That she did not turn into who she could
Her potential scarred by womanhood.