As we look into the eyes of little girls, may we remember that we too, and our mothers, were once the same age.

Tight lips and heavy throats.

Heavy throats and weary hearts.

Swallowed words and bitten tongues.

Battered emotions and brittle lungs.

Wear untorn stockings, and knee-long skirts.

Hide how you truly feel, lest she curses your birth.

“She carries so much already.”

Tired women and tired daughters.

Tired grandmothers waiting to care for a tired generation.

We were not meant to be birthed from pain, but love has made sure to remain.

We have cried from the bottom of our wombs, but our hearts remind us to smile again.

The well of our thoughts have never run dry.

From the light of ideas that freely flow by, our strength and hope, we shall always come by.

– A poem by Nomfundo Gumede.

Being human entails that you will always have many aspects of ‘self’ that you will be constantly required to juggle consistently and continuously.

Due to trying to take care of ourselves and anyone else in need of our love and attention, we find ourselves reaching the brink of exhaustion and collapse.

Our womanhood, a reality created by our wounded femininity, makes such over-extension continuous in our lives, regardless of how hard we try to change and be better.

However, like everything that exists in this world, our unintentional disregard for ourselves without ever requiring reciprocation, is deeply embedded in our childhoods and the relationships we had with the older women (mothers, foster mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, nannies, aunties, etc.) in our lives during that moment in time.

To see the individual changes, we desire to see in ourselves, and in extension, in women collectively, we each need to do what is necessary and face the wounded little girls that live within us and hug them.

The journey is never an easy one, as painful memories will have to be relived, and the pain felt all over again.

Forgiveness will have to be given to those that we feel are undeserving of it and most importantly, it will have to be given to ourselves as well.

This is the Ode to the Little Girl.

A promise we are making to love ourselves unapologetically and to live out the dreams we were told to forget about at age 6.

Carrie Mae Weems: Untitled (woman and daughter with makeup) 1990

Keep a journal and pen at your disposal, should you choose to be brave enough to do this for yourself, and for those to come after you.

A lot of the time, I wish there was a way I could bypass these parts of my journey, and there is…

…actually (realizing that it has taken me this long because I have always been avoiding it. *lol)

I have just stopped choosing it.

I am also filled with the Spirit of Gratitude because after years of living as a caterpillar, my wings have emerged full and bright, and I desire to spread my light as far as it can possibly go, while holding the hands women that desire to do the same in their own way.

Carrie Mae Weems: Kitchen Table Series

“If you try to fight for yourself and try to stand up for yourself, then you will know that you are brave warrior. – Kirabo, my 7-year-old daughter.

Remember to love yourself. Be as gentle as a feather. Disciplined and forgiving. Carry yourself with grace as you transition into a woman you never been and only seen in your dreams.