There was a time when I was a mischievous rat,
Carefree and willful; master of my own weensy world,
But they told me to grow up,
And I grew up from that,
They would ask me to smile,
Smile I should,
But I didn’t smile; I laughed.
Laughed a lot; to my heart’s content,
But they would say, “I laughed like the boys.”
Scolded me for being loud,
And I had to also change that,
They would ask me to walk,
Oh! That I did,
I ran like a cheetah,
Leaving them all behind,
But then they would frown upon me,
They would command,” Walk like a girl.”,
And when I was changing that,
I learnt that my freedom was bind,
Which was never given in kind.

They would order,
What I shall do and what I should not,
I grew up,
But in a cage,
I always questioned myself,
Did my life ever belong to me or not?
I grew up from my childhood,
From smiles and fun,
I never knew I would lose everything,
Once my journey of growing up began,
Hurt shrouded my happiness,
Tears blurred my smile,
When they said they had chosen a groom for me,
To walk me down the aisle,
I couldn’t let this go without a fight,
I raised my voice against them once,
“I am only 16.”, I shouted,
But words fell against deaf ears,
They slapped me!
And another one shook me from my trance,
But I remained firm,
No matter how much they pushed me,
Deep inside I knew,
I was a caged bird,
No matter how hard she flapped her wings,
She couldn’t fly,
She would end up losing,
So, she did what was right,
And what she thought to be right,
She took the knife,
Trembling and shaking with fear,
She had to make it quick,
She had to run away,
Cutting off the ropes,
That bound her in her room,
She ran….,
She ran like a cheetah,
Far from those monstrous wolves,
Finally, she felt free,
Free as a flying bird in the sky,
Yes, she knew she grew up,
She grew up from pain and betrayal,
She grew up from abuse and condescending,
She grew up from experience,
But we all would know,
That she has grown up more than anybody else.
© jas