When you are 13 years old,
the heat will be turned up too high
and the stars will not be in your favor.
You will hide behind a bookcase
with your family and everything hunted.
You will spend years pouring an ocean
into a diary. When they find you,
they will treat you like nothing more
than a spark above a burning bush.
Still, tell them,
Despite everything,
I really believe people are good at heart.
When you are 14 years old,
a voice will call you to greatness.
When the doubters call you crazy,
do not listen. They don't know the sound
of their own God's whisper.
Do not let their doubting drown out
the sound of your heartbeat.
You are the Maid of Untamed Patriotism.
You were born to lead armies
and unite a nation like a broken heart.
When you are 15 years old,
you will be punished
for learning too proudly,
A man will climb onto your school bus
and insist your sisters name you enemy.
When you do not hide, he will point his gun
and fire three times. Three years later,
in an ocean of survival, and no apologies,
you will stand before the leaders
of the world and tell them
how your country is burning.
When you are 16 years old,
you will invent science fiction.
The story of a man named Frankenstein
and his creation. You will soon learn
young girls with big ideas
are far more terrifying than monsters,
but don't be afraid. You will be remembered
long after they have put down their torches.
When you are 17 years old,
you will strike out Babe Ruth
and Lou Gehrig , one right after the other.
Grown men will be so afraid of the lightning
in your fingertips that a few days later
all women will be fired
from the major leagues. The reason?
Girls are too delicate to play baseball.
You will turn 18
with a baby on your back,
leading Lewis and Clark
across North America.
You will turn 18
and be queen of the Nile.
You will turn 18
and bring justice to journalism.
You are now 18,
standing on the precipice,
trembling before your own greatness.
This is your call to leap.
There will be those
who say you are too young and delicate
to make anything happen for yourself.
They don't see the part of you that smolders.
Don't let their doubting drown out
the sound of your own heartbeat.
You are the first drop of rain in a hurricane.
Your bravery builds beyond you.
You are needed by all the little girls
still living in secret, writing oceans
made of monsters, and
throwing like lightning.
You don't need to grow up
to find greatness.
You are so much stronger than the world
has ever believed you could be.
The world is waiting for you
to set it on fire. Trust in yourseld
and burn.