There was a time
A time before hair under arms
A time before bras and makeup

A time where I’d have rather been a warrior
Than a princess

And it wasn’t because I hated pink
Though I did

And it wasn’t because of the swords
The wooden ones
That I fought my dragons with

It was because of the books

The books that told stories of girls
With their hair cut short

The girls who rescued the princes
And didn’t need to be saved

The movies, the TV
It showed me girls

With long blonde hair
And small waists

And big blue eyes

They waited in their towers
Or their forests
Or their palaces

They waited or slept
Being pretty and helpless
Until their prince came

I was a fighter child

I got tired of waiting

Sleeping bored me

And a prince was nowhere in sight

My books and I,
We jumped from the tower

We grabbed our weapons
We burnt our dresses

And we stood together against the dragon

The dragon
That had started to suspiciously look more and more
Like the blonde haired
Blue eyed

Sleeping princesses