Not Just A Girl Poem by Rashmi Sahu

They teach her how to smile,
but never how to speak,
Tell her to stay silent
when the world is cruel and bleak.

'Be careful, ' they always say,
'Don't walk alone at night.'
But why is she taught to fear the world,
instead of taught to fight?

A boy dreams beyond the ceiling,
a girl is asked, 'What will people say? '
He gets a thousand chances,
she gets rules for every day.

Her clothes become a question,
her dreams become a debate,
Her choices need permission,
while his are called his fate.

They praise her for being 'good, '
for obeying every rule,
But forget that she has dreams too—
she isn't someone's tool.

She is a daughter, not a burden,
a mind, not just a face.
She deserves the right to stumble,
to learn, to run her race.

So let her dream without limits,
let her voice rise and be heard.
A girl's life isn't society's property—
her future is hers to write, not theirs to decide.