Neither owned nor owed

​I do not owe you my successes,

Much like my failures are my own.

I do not owe you my happiness,

Just like in sadness I am alone.

You might feel like you own me,

But my dreams never learnt to bend the knee.
My ambitions, they soar high, surely and with certainty,

Never doubted, never constrained by all your negativity.
You tell me how I will amount to only disappointments.

Yet, I’ll keep proving you wrong with all my accomplishments.
You treat me like I was born to serve, to submit and be obedient.

I’ll show you how I’m also human and, above all, resilient.
You shout that you’re a man and I should always seek your benignness,

I’ll roar that I’m a woman, and yet meet you with kindness and forgiveness.

I am fierce, I am gentle, I empower, I overthrow, I nourish, I nurture, and I can even destroy, I am a juxtaposition of paradoxes, I am woman and I’ll endure.

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