Rupi Kaur

like your mouth has the gift of reading and i’m your favorite book.

i am water

soft enough
to offer life
tough enough
to drown it away

i have
what i have
and i am happy

i’ve lost
what i’ve lost
and i am
still
happy
- outlook

if the hurt comes
so will the happiness
- be patient

your name is
the strongest
positive and negative
connotation in any language
it either lights me up or
leaves me aching for days

neither of us is happy
but neither of us wants to leave
so we keep breaking one another
and calling it love

every time you
tell your daughter
you yell at her
out of love
you teach her to confuse
anger with kindness
which seems like a good idea
till she grows up to
trust men who hurt her
cause they look so much
like you

- to fathers with daughters

with my heart in your hands. thank you. for arriving here safely. for being tender with the most delicate part of me. sit down. breathe. you must be tired. let me kiss your hands. your eyes. they must be wanting of something sweet. i am sending you all my sugar. i would be nowhere and nothing if it were not for you. you’ve helped me become the woman i wanted to be.

do not look for healing
at the feet of those
who broke you

who tricked you
into believing
another person
was meant to complete you
when the most they can do is complement