Last year I was introduced to a beautiful poem by Clementine von Radics called “For Teenage Girls With Wild Ambition and Trembling Hearts” (for those of you who have not read it here is the link!) In her poem, she talks about teenage girls throughout history who have changed the world at every age between 13-18 to show that young women can make history. Inspired by her ideas, I asked myself why the tales of college aged women throughout history couldn’t be put into a similar poem. Therefore, I decided to attempt to write my own variation of Clementine von Radics’ to show that women ages 19-22 are powerful in their own right.
When you are 19 you will be the first women to venture into the trenches. With smuggled military uniforms, bound breasts and a passion for journalism you will march where men thought a woman could never dare. In the trenches of WWI, under constant fire, you will use your cunning nature to fit into a space in which men do not believe you belong. But when you are discovered, you will be silenced. However, though you may never publish your stories, your legend will live in the deepest of trenches.
When you are 20 you will write one of your most famous novels and you will refer to it as your ‘Darling Child’. Though many of your efforts to be published will fail, the final years of your life will be filled with the joy of knowing that thousands are reading your words. And though you continued writing until your final day, your works will live on because of the efforts of your brother. For he knew that the world must hear your stories of quick witted women in unremarkable situations.
When you are 21 you will defeat your brother to become the Pharaoh. History will over sexualize you and only remember you as a seducer. They will not know that you were a prolific language learner. They will not know that you used your intelligence and cunning to attain a dominant position in all of your co-regencies. But behind the pop culture image, behind the sexy halloween costume, behind your charcoal lined eyes, there is the powerful Egypt that you built with your dynamic hips and visionary mind.
When you are 22 you will leave your home to go to college. Shrouded in constant darkness, you will learn about the new world around you in new ways. You will learn to defy common belief and with eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear, you will astonish a crowd with you words. You will speak with a cool flush of words as eloquently as your teacher spelled W-A-T-E-R into your small palm.
You are a young woman; you contain all the power and emphasis of the first star in a night sky.
Though your light may be small still,
you will burn brighter than anyone can imagine.
The sun is just a star even yet.
You may be forgotten, you may be silenced, and you will be discouraged
But don’t let their words extinguish your glow
Because those who challenge you will use you as a light
to guide their way in the shadows of night.
And even though they may belittle your existence as a small, far off, unimportant entity
your light is distinctly undeniable
and your power is vast
and even in the darkest of nights you will continue to glow
For your legacy has just begun.