Hymn For A Woman

[Verse 1] She was born from her mother Who was born first to hers How a woman can mirror all the secrets of earth She's a luminous power But she dreams in the dirt Never knowing her strength, letting go all her worth Let me sing her a hymn for a woman [Verse 2] She begins in a box Where the boundaries are set To be graceful, and cheerful and accept where she's met For no ceiling is higher Than she might dare beliеve So she smiles in sorrow as shе bends to her knees Let me sing her a hymn for a woman [Verse 3] She's a temple of beauty For the tigers that leer As they whistle so freely and she whistles in fear And the changing room coven Makes her swim in the shame Of the patterns of skin That are stretched round her frame So let me sing her a hymn for a woman [Verse 4] To be younger and smaller Is the holiest grail For if she counts every mouthful then she never can fail And the lines of her laughter Always sadder than tears So she fills them with poison To deceive her long years Let me sing her a hymn for a woman [Verse 5] And the wiser she grows Then the less she is seen Is a goddess for worship if she no longer bleeds? She can carry the future She can birth it with love But forever she'll feel like Her best ain't enough So let me sing her a hymn for a woman [Verse 6] Now she's never alone in the ways of this world It is learned in the silence by every girl From her mother, grandmother since nature begun So what gift can we share for the women to come Let me sing them a hymn for a woman [Bridge] She's the artist that paints in the colours unseen Every stroke of her brush is an act of belief She's a true work of art She is playing her part of a woman What a woman What a woman [Verse 7] She's the answer to balance, she can rewrite her path Walk a road that is sacred in its womanly marks And if a sister is screaming for a friend in the fight She can hold her up higher so she's scraping the sky And she'll sing her a hymn for a woman Yes she'll sing her a hymn for a woman