Older

Older?

How did I know that I was older?

When I could no longer walk alone,

Without a grown  man’s shadow hanging over my shoulder.

Feet a size ten with a height slightly over five,

Eyes too big for my face, a smile much too wide,

Not knowing the looks that turned my crush away,

Helped shield me from the glare of men’s preying eyes.

Older?

How did I know that I was older?

When men twice my age thought it nothing,

To graze my shoulders.

When they drew too close,

They now ignored the stark fear in my eyes,

Choosing instead to focus on the shape,

Of  my now more womanly thighs.

The changing of my body should have been a beautiful thing,

From an awkward duckling to a glowing swan, some may say.

But instead I only felt more uncomfortable in my skin,

My youth feeling threatened under the eyes of preying men.