Let Us Live

Women should be able

to walk outside after dark

without fear

that a stranger’s presence

will turn freedom into vigilance.

Teenage girls should be able

to walk down the street,

uninterrupted.

Without car horns,

without catcalls,

without being taught

that their bodies are public property.

Young girls should be able

to exist

innocently;

to grow,

to play,

to trust,

without being groomed,

without being preyed upon.

We should not have to learn to survive

before we learn how to live.