Aim for the top

 Aim for the top
She was told all her life, 
Leap high and nobody can stop you.

She read books, She wrote papers,
She got an A on every assignment. 
Her parents and teachers beamed with pride
"There's our little girl."

The bar got higher,
So she jumped to greater and greater heights
And tried to ignore the pain when she landed.
Elementary, Middle and high school,
She dazzled all she met
But a voice inside her kept saying,
"You're not smart, and it won't be long before everyone knows that."

College was hard,
Work was harder.
She learned math,
But her heart had things it wanted to say.

She kept quiet
For nobody wants their child to be an artist.
She became an engineer,
Not the kind anyone remembers,
She was good enough to be valued, that was all.

All her life, through marriage and children,
She felt like something was missing.
When she retired, it felt like a relief, 
At last she could do what she liked.
So she became an painter,
And when she saw her painting in a gallery
All she could think was,
"All my life I aimed for the top, and what did it get me?"