I’m hopeful
that one day, I’ll see myself how you see me
full of beauty and talent and love and worthiness
and I’ll realize that the beauty you said you saw in me
has been there all along.
because you bring out the good in everything you touch.
I’m hopeful that one day, I’ll really see me,
and let my jagged edges be mended by your love.
I hope I’ll see all of my cracks,
and view them as beautiful,
worth everything that got me here.
and I’ll realize that I am made up of wistful dreams
and flower buds.
that once I see all of my strengths,
I’ll love and accept who I am
letting myself feel at peace and content
and full of promise.
because the only thing that was ever missing… was my ability to see the truth.
I’m hopeful that one day, I’ll finally feel okay.
and I’ll be able to find the words when asked what’s wrong.
I’m hopeful that one day, I’ll take care of myself how you take care of me.
and I’m hopeful that I’ll start loving me.
because it’s your love that somehow teaches me to love myself, through the dark clouds and hard times.
it’s your love that makes me realize there has always,
always,
been so much inside me worth loving.

- Naomi Harasti

when it feels like the darkness is closing in on you
and you feel lost with nowhere to go,
remember that you have survived every dark night you’ve encountered,
and the light has always found you again.
and though you can’t see a way forward right now,
the dawn always comes, the darkness always fades,
and everything will be okay.

-Naomi Harasti
7.7.21

I'm empty
like all the promises you spoke.
broken like them, too.

- Naomi Harasti

maybe one day
instead of over & over & over again,
it will just be over.

- Naomi Harasti

just love yourself, they say.
as if it's so easy.
as if I can just utter the words and actually believe them.

don't talk about yourself that way, they say.
as if I think I deserve anything else.
as if I can start telling myself
I'm amazing.
I'm strong.
I'm worthy of love.
when all of it just feels like a lie.

why are you like this? they ask.
as if I don't already ask myself the same question every single day.
as if I don't ******* hate myself already.
as if I needed a reminder that I'm broken,
when I'm the one who feels it.
as if I even know.

I love you, they say.
as if I can believe it.
but how can anyone love me?
because I know myself best
and I don't even love me.

- Naomi Harasti

I bore my poems
my heart on my sleeve
but it didn't matter.
they would never be read,
and I would never be understood.
what is the truth--
if you say you love me,
want to know me,
want to see me,
but your eyes don't fall upon my words?
the scratches on the paper are more than just that
the scratches on the paper are a doorway to my heart
my mind
my soul.
and I just wish you cared enough
to look inside the room
of who I am.

- Naomi Harasti

one day,
you'll look back on these days and you'll only remember the good.
as if the bad was washed away. you'll think of these days fondly--longingly, even.

one day,
you'll forget that you spent every day barely making it through, clinging to one tiny thread of hope that one day... one day... it might get better.

one day,
you'll see every obstacle and every hurdle as stepping stones to the better you. the happier you.

and, one day, you'll be able to say the words and truly mean them:

                                             "I am happy."



- Naomi Harasti