When I was ten, It didn't matter that my legs weren't hairless; I was just a girl - It was shameless.
That was the year it all ended, And suddenly, I was supposed to be a woman. Suddenly my legs And all the spaces in between Weren't mine, but his.
When I turned fifteen, I thought he wanted my new hairless legs; I thought being a woman Would make him love me And the woman I was going to be. But I was a girl. I was shameless.
And it was easy to pretend I wanted it, Easy to pretend that I wanted what hurt. It was easy, It was shameless, Until I was crying on the bathroom floor, Missing a period.
And that was just the thing - That my own blood was a sin. I couldn't bleed, Because being a woman was wrong. And I thought that's what he wanted, I thought that's what he wanted all along.
He wanted me to be a woman When it was his hands on my thighs, His hands on my waist, His hands covering my eyes.
He wanted me to be a woman until I was: Until I had hair on my legs And all the spaces in between. And suddenly I was supposed to be ten, I was supposed to be a girl, I was supposed to be shameless.
I wasn't a woman; I was small. I was young. And it hurt.
As I near twenty years, I think of being ten, I think of being fifteen, And I feel no different. I'm still small, I still curl up on my bedroom floor. I still have pink walls And red painted toes Because I'm a girl, And that's the worst of it all.