Not because of the physical changes in our bodies
Though those make us scared too...that's for another poem
It's scary because we don't know what lies on the other side of us
What this child will become
Will he become the type of man who is big and surly
And doesn't care at all for opinions that aren't his
Just likes those regurgitated from a woman or child's throat
Tells the child 'don't speak, don't speak, don't speak' Be quiet
You're not allowed to think for yourself or feel angry or hurt when I say or do things to make you angry or hurt
You're just allowed to live to be a child which means to be a shadow
And to live in the shadows, and grow in the shadows
Will she be a woman who smacks the face of anyone who dares to make her uncomfortable
Who strips the skin that covers them and spills their flaws out of her perfect cauldron of memory
That has no space for memories that make her look bad
Who feels that opinions are signs that you're trying to make her feel small and unintelligent
And so forces them down your throat and keeps them anchored there with threats and guilt-trips around the globe
Will this child grow to be everything he hates?
Everything that hurt him? Everything that drained him of his potency, that made him a zombie? Will he still be a zombie who's always waiting to be filled with the things childhood stole from him?
Will he steal the beauty from other childhoods just to fill the holes in himself?
Will we perpetuate the cycle of girl becomes woman of boy becomes man without having truly passed the first stage because the "correct" answers in all the quizzes
Were engraved and if you wrote something else, you failed
Were labelled rebellious, deviant, defiant, rude, stubborn, ungrateful
And if you stayed between the lines you were still doing it wrong
Will we raise the next generation of confused children who need psychiatrists and pills and sad music or angry music or a gun tucked in the waist, or a knife tucked in the waist or hidden under their tongue
Being provoked by anything that resembles unblemished opinions, not coloured by fear or the need to please?
What will this child become?
