I am not a little woman with false teeth and gray hair;

The woman is a little house - I am me and I live there.

I am not afflicted with a list of symptoms sad and long.

They can only touch my body; I myself am well and strong.

I am not a slave, held helpless by a thousand thongs of things;

[Clothes and customs and traditions]; they bind others - I have wings!

If a brief obituary in the columns of this town;

You should read, friend, do not worry; merely say, "Her house fell down.

She herself escaped uninjured; she has wings and she can fly."

Look up! See that white bird soaring? On beyond that gull - go I!

- Frances Holstrom