These days it seems more and more like you're being told

Who you are, what you are, and why you can't.

We, the youth, are too discouraged to be bold.

We're too torn down by one another to see what we are.

 

So here I am to be the one that says it's ok,

It's not bad. It's fantastic to say, "I am!"

Live up to the names and labels they say,

But use them as a ladder.

 

I am exactly what they call me;

I am young, a girl, unexperienced.

I'm over my head, in the real world,

A little naive, and maybe delirious.

 

I'm shooting too high.

I'm falling too fast.

I'm lighting a fire

That's too bright to last.

 

At least that's what they say.

They tell me what I am

To avoid thinking about who they are.

The lions are loud, but learn from a lamb.

 

I wear the sheep's clothing,

Accepting it all.

The growling, the swiping,

The ensuing mawl.

 

But I am delerious and unexperienced in youth.

Why would I run when I have nothing to lose?

Maybe I'm shooting to high, but shooting's all the same

when the sound that it makes scares off the big game.

 

Over my head, that space can be filled

By the lessons I learned here dealing with you.

I'm a girl in a mans world, falling into a trap.

But who's to say I'll be the one there when it snaps.

 

You think my fire is too bright, I'll be burnt out,

And that your opinion somehow counts.

I'm in the real world,  just like you said.

So are you but that's not a thought in your head.

 

I am what you thought and so much more.

Time and over again you thought it was a bore

To note the deeper meaning of what you think I am.

Why would it matter, the meat of the lamb?

 

I know what you think, and you lions aren't wrong.

Just instead of a pride, a misguided throng.

I am the lamb, so sweet a devoured treat.

But you did a great job making me too tough to eat.

 

There will always be someone to see me as soft,

Always someone to try to point out that I'm lost,

But every fire I'm building is lighting the way

To be even better than who I am today.

 

It's hard to see the target when shooting this high,

So I forgive you for not tacking on to your list

The words focused, sighted, steady, and sharp,

Because a lamb can hunt in more than the dark.

 

My ways may be quiet, may seem absurd.

I hope that you see as you read my word

That though I am different it's not debatable

That I Am Capable.