They said it would be different
That we could be anything
They didn’t tell me about the limitations society would impose
I guess that’s an attempt at maintaining the innocence of children
They never said fairy tales were works of fiction
Only that the fairies weren’t real
Foolish us, wanting to believe
They never said that encouragement was a safety net,
A slow death by strangulation
Grinding us into soullessness
He never said how love would turn to resentment
How us against the world would turn to us against each other
Our children never said that disappointment would become the standard
And we never told them that we weren’t qualified for the job
© M. Black, 2017 All rights reserved.