Mule No More
You trained a donkey to say yes
Head down, say thank you,
say blessed Carry the house,
carry the name Carry the shame that was never hers to claim
Carrot says "be a good girl,
be still" Stick says "you will,
you will, you will" And a donkey learns fast what a stick
can do
Learns that no is not allowed to be true We are not
your donkey, not your ass,
not your mule! Our bodies are not debts,
our bodies are not fuel!
(hey!) You don't get to take what you never asked to rule!
We are not your donkey,
not your ass, not your mule!
You teach a girl her body is a field Something to plow,
something to yield Teach her that love is something owed
That her skin is part of the road But a body is
not a road
A body is not a load And taking without a yes
Is not love, is not a test — it's theft
A donkey remembers every hand That pulled too hard,
that made it stand A donkey remembers the barn,
the chain Remembers how to bite through pain
We remember too
We remember who
(we remember!)
So we stand still in the middle of the track Sacks falling
off our back You can shout,
you can beat the ground But this mule ain't moving now You
want a donkey that will break and obey
We are the donkeys that walked away Bareback,
unbridled, free You don't own what you can't see —
We are not your donkey,
not your ass, not your mule!
We are not your property,
not your crop, not your jewel!
(hey!) Take your carrot,
take your stick, we are done with your rule!
Our bodies are our own,
we are not your mule!
(NOT YOUR MULE!)
A no is a no when it's whispered too.
A body is a home,
not a thing for you.