Member-only story
Re: Dear Jane
A Letter on Consent, Dignity, and Defiance | Rhymed Verse
Dear Jane,
It’s not your fault, whatever they may say.
Your choices never gave your rights away.
It’s okay to drink, to celebrate, to choose.
It’s okay to wear what you want without excuse.
It’s okay to trust, to let somebody near.
It’s okay to feel your anger, grief, and fear.
It’s okay to question those you trusted then.
It’s okay to question what you knew back when.
None of these things were invitations to take.
None of your choices made your boundaries theirs to break.
What you could not give, they had no right to take.
What was always yours was never theirs to break.
Your compass may be clouded by the doubt,
By everything that taught you to shut your instincts out.
Your memory may return in fragments, unclear,
While pieces once forgotten slowly reappear.
A line was crossed, though some deny the line,
Because admitting boundaries means we must define
