A girl becomes a woman when-
There is no longer innocence in her eyes but skepticism & a spark to conquer
There are no questions on her mouth about the world but blood on lips
The femininity she embodies isn’t soft, fragile and vulnerable but divine, dark and daring
Her voice isn’t sweet but full of angst which spews venom
Her arms aren’t wide open to welcome but her hands form a fist to defend.
Her heart isn’t big ,now she doesn’t have a blank space in it.
Her mind doesn’t work against her but against the impossible
Her thoughts don’t focus on pleasing others ,she thinks about her supreme pleasure
She isn’t lonely, she’s a loner as she operates alone in peace
She doesn’t attract , her very existence is threatening for some
You won’t hear her giggles but always hear her having the last laugh
She is not a fairy with wings, she is a flying phoenix and a walking beast
Her love doesn’t make her a giver, she will be your addiction, your endgame
She isn’t a devotee of God when she is friend of the devil
She no longer has a soul but an ever burning fire in her
She isn’t beautiful, warm, seductive and a follower but first strong, dynamic, courageous and ambitious
She doesn’t dream during the day but turns her nights into a battlefield where she becomes a warrior over and over again
She doesn’t run in a valley full of flowers ,she scales mountains made of thorns
She doesn’t die, she leaves a legacy
She learns, unlearns and overcomes, she is her own master, her own fate
She isn’t a good girl ,she is a bold woman.
An ode to every girl here in her twenties
who is becoming a woman and
who will have her own definition of it.
Cheers to us and our journey🥂.
We are in this together!
(Lakshi Shandilya, a poet and PhD scholar at the University of Delhi, blends creative verse with academic depth.)
