Anything But - Mulan

She often wondered

questioned

even sometimes challenged.

Yet still,

she wanted to please.

She saw the way her town looked at her

with disdain

the way they looked at her family

with pity

when she talked too fast

ate too fast

or had left straw in her hair.

And however much she denied it,

she detested that look

and she longed to prove them wrong.

To make up for all of her faults,

But it was as if her spirit, in of itself,

refused to conform.

So she was clumsy,

she was unprepared,

and maybe she had learned to not care

about what others thought of her

and her supposed lack of

dignity

and honor 

but she cared about

her family

more.

she cared about their honor 

more.

So she decided. 

she decided she would live up to her name

be the flower that would blossom

not by her towns standards

not by the geisha standard

but by blossoming

through the ashes of war

if it meant her family was safe

if it meant their honor was perserved

she would blossom in hidden standards

she would blossom by a soilders standard

and she would eventually blossom for all of China to see

but that didn't matter

as long as her blossom

saved anyone but her

she would.