You must know
As little girls, we write about the struggles of our mums
We glorify their pain as borne out of resilience in duties never understood
The choring, the caring, the back-from-work, good enough to keep her a mother
As little boys, we wonder what could be wrong with the masculinity of our dads
The strength, the daring, the command and excesses as broad to keep him a man

And when we get older, our writings wonder about the perspectives of our greatness
Where their faint hearts through generations in ours may have cried out for help
We search for meaning in the imperfect definitions to our best fantasies
We’ve fought too hard to believe whom we’ve been told we are
Yet neither patriarchs, matriarchs nor allied constructs could define our world into perfection

Still as only one mortal, I’ll believe in something and make it worth my time
So when women rise to be strong
They race to every beat like they know they can’t go wrong
It’s not because they don’t fear
Nor because they’ve forgotten the pain that brought them here
It’s because they chose to be different from their own past which is no longer near
It’s the choice to be brave everyday
It’s a chosen way.

*****

[Courtesy of the author]
Link to the Italian translation