At Home Poem by Nika McGuin

When a woman leaves her home
she leaves everything she was
customs, family, friends, lovers
all left in her wake
but she knows she can always
begin again, she is who she is
at her core, wherever she is

But when a girl leaves her home
she doesn't know what she's leaving
or what she'll find when she gets there
but she is desperately hoping to find:
independence, friendship, love, & herself

You see, the girl hasn't been able
to find these things in the safety
of her home, thus the transition
from girl to woman was never made

She must exit the sheltered cradle of lace
and enter this terribly beautiful world
knowing nothing of it; to be mystified,
terrified, enraptured, and found therein
then & only then can the girl become a woman,
and the woman, her own home