I was once a girl,
with scraped knees and sky-sized dreams,
braids pulled tight, eyes alight with mischief.
Girlhood was monsoon rain -
wild, uncontained,
running barefoot through courtyards
before the world…
They say women cannot say “no.”
Yet they carry burdens no one knows.
As daughters, they shrink their dreams,
Fit themselves in silent seams.
…