There once was a young girl, who walked over fields of hardened snow,
With her dog, her companion, no direction just following where their footsteps go.
The fresh snow crunched under their feet and paw with loudness to proclaim
Here we’re coming, ready to enter into this life’s game.

She was starting to feel the freedom of her coming of age
Of her ability to choose what she wanted from life at every stage;
This feeling was new and filled her with excitement and energy;
But the pressures and constraints of this time would not let her be.

On the one side she felt exhilaration in the cold January air
On the other, what was she doing with no boyfriend with which to share
This walk, what was wrong with her, all her friends had a boy in their life?
The measurement of worth in this society, to become someone’s wife!

So the mood shifted to lonely and longing to be in love
That special someone, what was wrong with her? Intervene, someone from above!
So she gave away her freedom, to be accepted, be the same as all her peers
Within a month she had her wish, gave away freedom, but thereafter shed many tears.

Over the years she would think back often to that January day
Sometimes with longing and sadness that she had decided to play
The role of another, was this life but a dream in between?
Was she looking at her past as if seeing a film on a screen?

Close your eyes then open them, awake from this dream
She can’t do it, first the panic and then silently she lets out a scream
This wasn’t how her life was meant to be played out
At the fates and herself she can only rant and shout.

But you chose it, her inner self tells her without kindness
You didn’t look far enough, because of your youthful blindness,
You went along with what was expected of you and didn’t rebel
Always thinking you would be saved by some divine, intervening bell.

Now you know that your fate is open for you to choose
The other life you might have had, was there ever anything to lose?
If you could look into a parallel universe you might have the chance to see
The other ‘you’, alone, unloved and uncared for, was that how it was intended to be?

You battle within yourself, reproach yourself for opportunities you thought you lost
But who knows – for this other you – to loose the love of your family is the cost.
Before you entered this life your soul decided what it most needed to do
But you now must wait until death comes to know what was really meant for you.