girls are soft as wolf's fur
subtle as a starburst
fragile as a porcelain knife
and we sting, we cut, we bite;

girls were born with strings tied to our wrists
and we'll gently drag you down;
you will lean in for a kiss
and we'll steal your paper crowns.

Tell a little girl that her coily hair is beautiful when all of her playmates think otherwise. Marvel at a little boy’s drawings when everyone else he shows them to is too busy to spare a glance. Compliment someone’s floral dress in the subway; compliment someone’s smile, someone’s art, someone’s cooking, someone’s gumamela flowers soup they made especially for you. Thank someone for the songs they introduced, for the songs that now have become your shower jams and lullabies. Tell someone that you think they’re amazing and smart, especially if they don’t think so of themselves.

In a world where everyone looks past a street singer and ignores the old man painting sunsets in a park, be that someone who isn’t afraid to tell people about the beautiful things in them. Be that someone who isn’t afraid to be soft to others. Be that someone who isn’t afraid to be kind.

I often dream
Of your arms
Rocking me to sleep
Soft eyes
Like blankets
Warming over me
My heart
Beats fast
But I
Breathe slow
Your body
next to me
Souls
Tender kisses
Fingers
On my skin
Love
Is my reason
For living
❤

I want my love to remind you of the first stars you see during the nightfall, of the movie soundtracks you sing under the shower, of the words from a book you can’t put down, of the scenes you remember from a half-forgotten dream.

I want my love to remind of you the first sunrise we saw together from my bed, of the coffee blend that made you realize you loved coffee, and of riding buses during sunsets, and of the first flowers that came right from your soul.

I want my love to remind you that despite its harshness and sadness, there is something kind and soft and gentle in this world, darling — and that you can call it home.

his lover is like a galaxy

with the way his tears glisten with constellations;

and when he smiles (but rarely so),

there would be starlight in his eyes.



his lover is like a rainbow,

showcasing a myriad of colours and emotions,

and he can never quite get enough of them.



his lover is like dawn and dusk,

like the soft pink sunlight that often warmed his heart,

and the dusty twilight skies

that held countless stars.



his lover is warm cotton sheets,

soft robes and cooling breezes.

his lover is comforting hugs,

tiny kisses, and whispered declarations of love.



his lover is everything to him;

most importantly,

his lover is his home.

girls like her won’t break you — girls like her will make you weekly playlists, and write you poems as you sit together on museum floors, and watch your favorite movies, and introduce you to new songs, and steal your hoodie while you read your long-pending books, and drag you out of bed at 2 am’s to watch the stars fall to the earth, and kiss you, right there and then.



and then, they break you.

the walnut falls
muffled in fall leaves
soft evolution