Who would she be?

Someone would always tell her to be

This or that, give advice contradictory

Advice based on their own lens

Was for her freely dispensed

One thread was common in all that advice

She was expected to be submissive and nice

All advice expected her to conform

To society’s narrow social norms

*

She did not know what she could be

So she took all advice seriously

And actually did remarkably well

As far as anyone from a distance could tell

She became who others expected her to be

Not stopping to consider any other possibility

*

With greying hair, and the ability to ignore

The expectations of others, she wants more

For herself than she did all these years

Finally she has let go of her fears

Regarding what other people would say

She wants to turn over a new leaf in a way

She searches her soul to really find

Who she wants to be, what appeals to her mind

The answer takes her conscious self by surprise

It was buried under everything she had internalized

About who she was, it was all a lie

Now she shall claim her place under the sky