I don't think you understand
I don't think that you listened
I was screaming
I was yelling
I only wanted you to hear,
Just what I was saying

My days of being a child
Are coming to their end
I'm telling you I understand
You want me to be safe
I'm telling you that I know
Your caring, loving hand

I'm grateful for your mothering
In me, you're deeply wired
I want to see what I can be,
I've just become so tired

I have to taste the world for myself
You tell me all the time
"Let people have their own experiences"
Now please let me have mine
Can't you see?
Are you blind?
I don't mean to insult you
I only mean to fight
For what I feel is valid,
For what I feel is right

I want to see the things you've seen
I want to be just who you've been
It's new to me
And frightening, yes
"I'm only sixteen"
That's what you said

But sixteen is old enough
To have a head
A head on my shoulders
And a heart in my chest

Please hear what I'm saying
Please try to understand
That sixteen hurts enough
Without your suffocating hands