They said her school would shape her right,
a place of rules, of calm, of light,
where if she worked and did her best,
success would surely do the rest.
Her uniform, so clean and neat,
her polished shoes upon her feet,
a perfect girl, both calm and kind,
with quiet voice and sharper mind.
“Just study hard, don’t speak too loud,
don’t stand too tall, don’t seem too proud,
be good, be smart, but not too bright—
don’t outshine others in their sight.”
But halls are not what they appear,
the rules can bend, the lines unclear,
some voices rise, some fade away,
no matter what they try to say.
Her questions earn a tilted glance,
her dreams dismissed as just a chance,
too bold, too much, too hard to please—
yet still expected to appease.
She learns the truth behind the guise:
not every effort earns a prize,
not every path is fair or straight,
not every door will open late.
And still she walks, she won’t conform,
through quiet doubt and louder storm,
for though the world may not align,
she writes her fate in her own rhyme.
Mar 29
Mar 29, 2026 at 4:24 AM UTC
They said her school would shape her right,
a place of rules, of calm, of light,
where if she worked and did her best,
success would surely do the rest.
Her uniform, so clean and neat,
her polished shoes upon her feet,
a perfect girl, both calm and kind,
with quiet voice and sharper mind.
“Just study hard, don’t speak too loud,
don’t stand too tall, don’t seem too proud,
be good, be smart, but not too bright—
don’t outshine others in their sight.”
But halls are not what they appear,
the rules can bend, the lines unclear,
some voices rise, some fade away,
no matter what they try to say.
Her questions earn a tilted glance,
her dreams dismissed as just a chance,
too bold, too much, too hard to please—
yet still expected to appease.
She learns the truth behind the guise:
not every effort earns a prize,
not every path is fair or straight,
not every door will open late.
And still she walks, she won’t conform,
through quiet doubt and louder storm,
for though the world may not align,
she writes her fate in her own rhyme.