“Perfect pose, perfect hair,
O how my aunty sings, “A young lady should be disciplined”
My mother adds in, “It’ll be easier to get you married, if you listen to your dear Aunty”
I had to be perfect and I was,

I was like a doll and my mother and aunty played house with me
They picked my clothes, my hair and if I was ever to be questioned at dinner, they would answer for me.
I didn’t mind it not at all, I thought this was how every little girl lived
As a child, the adults answered for her, and as an adult, her husband answered for her.
It was all swell, me being my obedient self, unhappy as I was”

Then one day, tired of being a doll,
I jumped from the window,
Where friends old and new waited for me,
I played till the sun went down and when I returned home,
I was met with disappointed faces.

The next morning, my mother sent me packing to the palace, irritated with my shenanigans
I was scared at first but now I realize I came home to freedom,
I imagine the face of my mother, if she saw me now,
Instead of tea cups and dresses,
She would see that I would be with armor and sword