Warrior Princess

For our granddaughter

You sashay in color and charisma
Yearning for the attention another gets
for being the athlete you aren’t
and never wanted to be.

All the while you dabble in paints, ink, and music,
dancing and singing in ways considered
frivolous when there are games to attend,
teams to beat, trophies to win.

They don’t give trophies for your pen and inks
or accolades for your painted rocks.
Your shine and shimmer and substance,
lost in the dirt beneath cleats that aren’t yours.

Don’t listen, Warrior Princess, don’t listen
and don’t despair of the attention routed
to fields of testosterone where you can’t play,
don’t want to play in sweaty pools.

Your shine is golden and gorgeous,
your fingers instruments of art,
your voice a heavenly lute,
your time a continuum of Athena.

Wrap yourself in the silken threads
of the art woven in your soul,
protection against a world too manly
where heels crush tender souls.

Your pinks and purples are battle flags
as you fight for a place at life’s table.
A Warrior Princess, flowing and sparkling,
waiting for the world to take notice.

My grandson is a star athlete, playing on two soccer teams with multiple practices and games each week. I worry about my granddaughter, who languishes on the sidelines of soccer fields when she’d rather be painting or dancing or singing. I am very proud of my grandson but equally proud of my granddaughter. She is an old artistic soul waiting for her opportunity to take the field.

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