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 

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 believe
So she smiles in sorrow as she bends to her knees
Let me sing her a hymn for a woman 

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
Let me sing her a hymn for a woman 

To be younger and smaller is the holiest grail
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 

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 
Let me sing her a hymn for a woman 

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 

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 artShe is playing her part of a woman 
What a woman 

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