We’ll be choked right from the start

or they’ll just play with our heart

they’ll lock us up or lock us in

they’ll attack us for showing our skin

our gender will pull us down

for which we’ll always have a frown.

we’ll hide ourselves all the time

we’ll be blamed for every crime

in the name of action they just marched across the street

while we sensed misogyny and its strong heat

tears start rolling down our cheeks

realising we live in a world full of freaks

realising that we’re girl and not boy

realising to society we’re just a toy

and then at the end we’re just lost

didn’t know this was our life’s cost.

By Hrishita Dev

Hrishita Dev is a 14-year-old, high school freshman at South City International School, Kolkata. She enjoys writing and reading poetry, painting, period and historical dramas, theatre and public speaking. She is genuinely enthusiastic about advocating for social issues and bringing about a more propitious prospect, and doesn’t let her age come in the way. She aspires to grow as a social activist and generate change.
 

“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.”- Edward Everett Hale