When I was young, I used to dream
of hungry monsters and evil queens
who made the children thrash and scream
When I was young, I used to read
tales of tyrants filled with greed
who loved to watch their victims bleed
But I never thought I’d see the day
that Lord Vader took our rights away,
that children fought in a hunger game
that Thanos turned the world to gray
I remember the morning all too well:
a few days shy of fourteen years old,
shaking in the closet, my blood gone cold
I remember whispering, “what the hell?”
too scared to even speak my thoughts,
for who knows what’s safe and what’s not?
Every dictator claims a noble cause
You promised to make this country great
But I guess your definition of greatness
just means white, male, and straight
You take whatever your madness touches –
power, women, money
You scream bitterly into the void
about turban-clad enemies
But to truly fight the war on terror,
you must shoot the man in your mirror,
for you are the one who inspires such fear
in the women you’ve branded with your dirty hands,
in the children left orphaned in this foreign land,
in the soldiers thrown away because they were trans
There is no Iron Man to snap his fingers
and no Jedi to call upon the force
But I am a girl and I have a choice
to plant my feet and use my voice,
for one spark can light the torch
and give hope to those who cannot speak
I’ll shoot my arrow straight and true,
shout for the speechless and stand for the weak
You’ve painted this country state by state
with the red in your ledger
and the lies from your hideous mouth
You’ve poisoned our borders with filth and hate,
but four years is not forever,
and every fire you started will be doused
You can buy your votes but not my respect
Your foul words will never reach me
Tied to the mast with pitch in my ears,
I will stand strong in what I believe
