This Girl

This girl

This entitled little–

Calm down, Carrie

But this girl

This Alice Paul

What gall!

To call me an old fogey

Since when am I an old fogey?

She thinks I'm obsolete!

She oughta kiss my feet

I lit the way for her

But no!

She thinks she knows better

Don't let her get to your head

Focus on your speech instead

What was I thinking

Enabling her?

I should've heeded the doubts I had

From the start

She's undeniably smart

But so misguided

I've labored for decades

To craft a conservative image for suffrage

But she makes us look like

A horde of hysterical harpies

With smoke blowing out of our ears!

What if she ruins what I have been mounting for years?

I did not count on this girl!

This girl

I can't believe I am now viewed as the old guard

And she as the beacon of change

Me, the old fogey

How strange

This girl

Not this girl

Raised by a penniless drunk

Who refused to send her to school

Not this girl, who paid

Her own way through college

Proving she's nobody's fool

Who worked as the first woman superintendent

Harassed by her boss

But managed to thrive

Who married a man for a good reputation

Then found herself widowed

At age 25

Not this girl, who flouted all feminine custom

By joining the fight for the vote

Not this girl, who followed the lead of the movement

Hiding her anger beneath her petticoat

Who rose through the ranks

By paying her dues

And earned her place at the top

Who transformed and expanded the organization

And she's yet to stop!

Not this girl you see before you now

Who stands by each move that she's made

This old fogey's time has come

Woman's time has come

I've fought my whole goddamned life

For respect for my sex

And I will no longer allow

This arrogant child to imperil

Our chance to be free

Not me

Not this girl!