I am my lover. I am the one that tends my garden.
I am the one I will always
say goodnight to last.
Today
marks the day I return home to myself. That I begin the long
journey that will be learning to trust in my own power
again—to engage life, be light, and stand confidently in
my own skin. And when I arrive, I will move gently through each
dark, narrow room, and proudly draw back the
curtains.
“
i
love myself.the
quietest.
simplest.
most
powerful.
revolution.
ever.
— Nayyirah Waheed
I watch my friends try to fill their
empty spaces with other people.
Their eager hands against warm chests.
Masters of the art of stealing hearts.
I tell them that bandages on smooth skin can’t stop internal bleeding.
But every relationship is another attempt at healing.
And they keep finding new mouths to kiss;
new hands to hold and new people to call medicine.
Their eager hands against warm chests.
Masters of the art of stealing hearts.
I tell them that bandages on smooth skin can’t stop internal bleeding.
But every relationship is another attempt at healing.
And they keep finding new mouths to kiss;
new hands to hold and new people to call medicine.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.
Know that just as you empower me, without you I am not
weakened. Know that your presence brings me happiness, yet in
your absence I am not sad. Know that you lift me up, and take
comfort in knowing without you I would not fall. Know that you
add to me, and even in your absence, you would not subtract
from me. Know that without you, I am whole, and with you I
become much more.
