How my heart ached

For the little girl

Caught up within

A furious whirl

Of social controversy.

She is just a little girl,

Six-years-old,

Dressed in pink and pigtails,

Who happened to be born

Within a boy’s body.

Her mommy and daddy,

They recognized her “differentness,”

But they loved her anyway

And allowed her to blossom

Just as she was.

Then the time came

For her to go to school,

So in her pink and pigtails

And in innocence she went

As their cherished little girl.

And all went well,

Maybe too well,

Until someone questioned

The little girl’s use

Of the little girls’ bathroom.

Now she stands

In her pink and pigtails,

The sad and innocent eye

At the center

Of a storm of contentiousness.