They told me you were dangerous
The baddest of our kind
That only with a single look
You’d get all girls to sigh

You were quite the charmer
Of that i was very sure
But what I didn’t really expect
Was to fall myself much more

I thought that i was different
That you’d also fall for me
For my attributes and laughter
For my smile on every eve

But that didn’t really happen
I got a wake up call
And while i was expecting a miracle
You didn’t notice at all

But it's ok, i learned a lesson
And to you i bid goodbye
Because I realized I didn’t need your love
To make myself fly high

Now i am much better
Im learning to love myself
I forgot all about you
And you smile in that hotel

Maybe i will never forgive you
For the tears i shed that night
But they taught me to love myself
For i'm the only one who can

I still remember those words
They told me at those times
Not to fall for a player
Who would only break my heart

But while they thought you were dangerous
And too charming to be true
I knew y what you were hiding
Behind your “too cool” crew

And i still remember
the way that i felt
The night you broke my heart
, just like they said

Although they did not warn me
Of how much i was to grow
And all that i would learn
When i finally let you go

So the next time they tell me
To look before i fall
I'll remind them of all i learned
Because i dared to try

Yet i still want to wish you
All the best i can
And that you someday find
A girl for whom you'll fall

And maybe then you'll understand
How easy it was for me
To fall for someone dangerous
While i was quite naive

I'll lend you a page from my book
If you dare to take it
Im sure youll find it helpful
With the girl who they'll call dangerous

A curious boy
Walks on street
Asking his father
What're those, What're these
His mother, holds his hand
With her gentle smile
And his sister says with a sigh
"Oh God, from where these questions
come in his mind."

she smiles like sun
you smell like rain
she listens to stories
and you write them

she hates smoke
you love fire
she'll stand aside
as you light them

she hated my voice
you hated my smile
she'll laugh along
as you taunt me

i loved her
you'll hurt her
but she'll smile
like she wants me

You’ve heard them say it countless times
Put on make-up to be “beautiful”
You’re a lady
Stand up straight
“Don’t wear skirts or tank tops”
Or the boys will get distracted
“Don’t eat too much” but
Confine yourself to the media’s
Version of what a woman
SHOULD be
Don’t be confident in yourself
And walk with your head low
“You’re not special
You’re like everyone else I know”
Don’t cut your hair too short
“Do you wanna be a boy?!”

Or maybe you have heard the other
Put on a fake smile
As you go about your day
Sadness is Weakness
And crying makes you less of a man
Don’t wear “girly” colors
Or you are “too feminine”
Refusing risks
Makes you a wimp

“Be a man”
They say
But what does that even mean
Don’t do things you love
But force yourself to
Throw on that jersey
How dare you want to
Pursue your dreams

Women can’t do this
Men can’t do that
All wrapped up in bubble wrap
Loving yourself?
What’s that?
Change yourself in ways
That deem YOU “perfect”
In the eyes of the world

But what does that word even mean?
Is a bird less perfect if it loses a feather?
Or a lizard less of a reptile when it sheds its skin?
The beach less of a beach when the tide roles in?
NO

I watch the world around me
Boys and girls of all ages
Being conformed to their gender roles
Hunted like the prey of a lion
Society stalking their every move
Making sure nothing is out of place

Who cares what the world thinks is “Perfect”
The absent minds of the world around us
Cannot be changed
Normal to you is not normal to them
Being “weird” is better than being generic
You are beautiful just the way YOU are
You are beautiful
You are perfect
You are…
YOU!

When he’s standing in your doorway
Clean-shaven, distanced,
Recognize that once he was
Scouring the cracks in the blacktop,
Picking pansies with the weeds
And clumping them together to declare
The love letters he had written along the sidewalks,
Blue chalk sprawling beside her walk home.

And one day he was standing before her desk,
A medley of a bouquet lodged under his fingernails,
That he took to be the most beautiful piece of art.
Lips slightly chapped, chest rising quickly,
In a moment of unadulterated courage he ****** his arms forward
To present the best offering he could.
And all she saw was the dirt.

sometimes I wonder how you would see yourself if you had my eyes.

would you see the delicate man I see,
the one that when he smiles, melts away all my pain.

would you see the strong man I see,
the one that puts others before himself.

would you see the brave man I see,
the one that faces adversity with a full grin.

would you see the girl I am,
the girl who you love.

would you see me,
and how I love you in ways words cannot explain.

beginning:

playing football
in the communal
playground
pitched between
mountains of concrete
brown brick office blocks
blockaded high street shops
council housing kingdoms.

memory;

taking potshots at metal
goalposts slicked with
the rain and scabbed spray paint
till the olders kick us aside
basketballs in hand
for freethrows from the poverty line.

unlearning;

to think
love like marble
too cold and rich to touch
in fear that it’d turn out to be *****
like two boys
looking at each other for too long
can leave stains no amount of febreze can air out.

end;

i still can’t sleep in your arms
but you never stop searching for me
in yours
all there is left to do
is let
myself be found.