It's 2009 and I'm 14 and I'm crying/

Not really sure where I am/

But I'm holding the hand of my best friend, Sam/

In the waiting room of a planned parenthood/

The air is sterile and clean/

And the walls are that...not grey, but green/

And the lights are so bright they could burn a hole through the seem of my jeans/

And my phone is buzzing in the pocket/

My mom is asking me if I remembered my keys/ 

'Cause she's closing the door and she needs to lock it/

But I can't tell my mom where I've gone/

I can't tell anyone at all/ 

You see, my best friend Sam was raped by a man/

That we knew because he worked in the after-school programme/

And he held her down, with her textbooks beside her/ 

And he covered mouth and then he came inside her/ 

So, now I'm with Sam/ 

At the place with the plan/ 

Waiting for a medical exam/

And she's PRAYING she doesn't need an abortion/

She couldn't afford it/

And her parents would like...totally kill her/

It's 2002/And my family just moved/ 

And the only people I know are my mom's friend, Sue and her son/

He's got a case of Matchbox cars and he says that he'll teach me to play the guitar...if I just keep quiet/

And the stairwell beside apartment 1245 will haunt me in my sleep for as long as I am alive/

And I'm too young to know why it aches in my thighs, but I must lie, I must lie/

It's 2012 and I'm dating a guy/ 

And I sleep in his bed/ And I just learned how to drive/ 

He's older than me/ And he drinks whiskey neat/ 

And he's paying for everything/ This adult thing...it's not cheap/ 

We've been fighting a lot/ Almost 10 times a week/ 

And he wants to have sex/ And I just want to sleep/ 

But he says I can't so no to him/This much I owe to him/

He buys my dinners/ So I have to blow him/

He's taken to forcing me down on my knees/ And I'm confused because he's hurting me while he says "please"/

And he's only a man and these things he just needs/ He's my boyfriend so why am I filled with unease?/

It's 2017 and I live like a queen/

And I've followed damn near every one of my dreams/

I'm invincible and I'm so fucking naive/

I believe I'm protected 'cause I live on a screen/

Nobody would dare act that way around me/

I've earned my protection, eternally clean/

Until a man that I trust gets his hands in my pants/

But I don't want none of that, I just wanted to dance/

And I wake up the next morning like I'm in a trance/

And there's blood/

Is that my blood?/

Hold on a minute/

You see I've worked every day since I was 18/

I've toured everywhere from Japan to Mar-a-Lago/

I even went on stage that night in Chicago when I was having a miscarriage/

I mean, I pied the piper, I put on a diaper/

And sang out my spleen to a room full of teens/

What do you mean this happened to me?/

You can't put your hands on me/

You don't know what my body has been through/

I'm supposed to be safe now/

I earned it/

It's 2018 and I've realized nobody is safe long as she is alive/

And every friend that I know has a story like mine/

And the world tells me we should take it as a compliment/

But then heroes like Ashley and Simone and Gabby, McKayla and Gaga, Rosario, Aly/

Remind me this is the beginning, it is not the finale/

And that's why we're here/

And that's why we rally/

It's Olympians and a medical resident and not one fucking word from the man who is President/

It's about closed doors and secrets and legs and stilettos/

From the Hollywood hills to the projects in ghettos/

When babies are ripped from the arms of teen mothers and child brides cry globally under the covers/

Who don't have a voice on the magazine covers/

They tell us take cover/

But we are not free until all of us are free/

So love your neighbour, please treat her kindly/

Ask her story and then shut up and listen/

Black, Asian, poor, wealthy, trans, cis, Muslim, Christian/ 

Listen, listen and then yell at the top of your lungs/

Be a voice for all those who have prisoner tongues/

For the people who had to grow up way too young/

There is work to be done/

There are songs to be sung/

Lord knows there's a war to be won/