A sound haunts these streets.

It echoes, it thrums.

The screams of a people

who were told to keep mum.

For years they’ve endured

every action, every word.

But the voices within them

demand to be heard.

“I want power,

I want a voice

I need autonomy,

I need a choice.”

“Too long we have folded

when we should have gambled.

We’re no longer content with

these scraps and these shambles.”

“We refuse to be guests

in the land of the free.

We refuse to be blind

simply so you can see.”

“I am more than this flesh,

I am more than these bones.

Give me more than a kid.

Give me more than a home.”

“This fire within me

has been tested and tried.

But the flame has not wavered.

In the darkness, there is light.”

“This wound will be bandaged.

These knots we’ll untangle.

Our necks will be free

from the hands that have strangled.”

“From this living nightmare,

soon we will wake.

We have given and given,

and now we will take.”

“Our freedom is near,

it is ours for the taking.

Our hands will be steady,

and our hearts free from aching.”

“We will fight for our rights

with every last breath.

Give us our liberty,

or give us our death.”

“Gone are the days

of silence and surrender!

History is in the making,

these voices you’ll remember!”

A sound haunts these streets,

the words crystal clear.

“We are women.

And, at last,

we are here.”