Learning to be Free

She walks into school with sleepy eyes and unfinished dreams,

A bag full of books, and more worries than it seems.

Between ringing bells, red ink marks, and midnight notes,

She learns, she laughs, she struggles, she copes.

A stolen joke with friends, sunlight across the classroom floor,

Somehow, the little things make her look forward to tomorrow more.

And she is a girl in a world that asks her to be brave,

To know her limits, yet still learn how to misbehave.

She hears “be careful” more often than “go ahead,”

But keeps her dreams alive inside her restless head.

She is slowly becoming the person she wants to be,

A girl, a student, a dreamer,

Learning what it means to be free.

by Siddhi Dubey