It’s just a phase she’s going through, they’d whisper in their bed.
but she seems so happy, he said.
It’s just a phase she’s going through, proclaimed father to father.
but she feels so free, they said.
It’s just a phase she’s going through, they’d tell the family at tea.
but I’m in love, she said.
She watched them watch her, in their disapproving scorn,
This, she knew, was not the reason that she’d been born.
Maybe she felt different,
like she didn’t quite fit.
A fly on the wall in the game of freedom,
Daring to swoop amongst it,
where the family couldn’t see.
Well, they saw the phase, that’s true,
but they forgot to look at you.
Luke Downing 