I don't stop

Tears as deep as Ariel's home,

Buried as deep as Triton's throne,

I watch as life spirals uncontrollably,

I watch as I fall through the rabbit's hole.

Though far from Wonderland,

I still embrace the changes,

The changes that haunt me with every step I take,

Because with every step, the last becomes the past,

The past becomes then unfathomable,

And more and more is now at stake.

But I don't stop!

I keep my one good eye on the road ahead,

But as I look down to the ground,

Suddenly it hits me, the bricks aren't yellow,

And my shoes aren't red!

But I don't stop!

I walk through a labyrinth of deceit and hurt,

I lay my hands flat on the surface of the earth,

As the ground shakes but only in my head,

I feel it burn like the deserts of Agrabah,

I feel a dream emerge from the dunes,

I dream as big as princesses can.

A princess confined to the four walls of life,

Praying to be an Alice,

An Ariel,

A Belle,

Or even a Snow White.

Yearning for release, from life and its struggles,

Yearning for adventure!

Then I stop.

The dunes have stopped,

The magical blueprints have disappeared,

And I fall.

I fall as I realise I am a woman,

A girl a damsel a female, and that is my weakness,

And that is my curse,

A curse that restricts me,

Yet I fought battles,

Countless in fact, Mulan would be proud!

I fought to be a woman, I still fight today,

Yet a selected few shall always decide my fate.

But I don't stop.

I battle on, I face Shan Yu's and I fight until I grow tired of this fight..

Until I tie the strings myself,

I tie them tight on my wrists and stand,

I stand and face the world once more,

I let the show begin,

I chant in silence I chant loud silence,

I scream in my heart,

“I wish I was not a real girl!”

Geppetto come and take me, extinguish this desire,

To want, to need, to become!

To become anything but me.

But I don't stop...

I carry myself, my strings, my heart,

My hope, my tears and I make haste and depart.

I depart from this reality and then force a smile,

I smile because I know something,

I know something that no one knows,

I know that my sadness will run its course,

And one day I will open my eyes to a kingdom,

One so familiar as though I carved it out of my mind,

One in which I am a princess, and I wear the glass slipper,

And sit sipping tea and talk to trees,

Fight and succeed, and break down the walls,

Between me and the norm,

And welcome my heart as it walks through the door,

And apologise for the bruises and salute its fight,

As we both openly grin at the final score!