β
Loneliness is a sign you are in desperate need of yourself.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i am a museum full of art
but you had your eyes shut
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
do not look for healing
at the feet of those
who broke you
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
how you love yourself is
how you teach others
to love you
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
if you were born with the weakness to fall you were born with the strength to rise
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
The kindest words my father said to me
Women like you drown oceans.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i am water
soft enough
to offer life
tough enough
to drown it away
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
people go but how they left always stays
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
stay strong through your pain
grow flowers from it
you have helped me
grow flowers out of mine so
bloom beautifully
dangerously
loudly
bloom softly
however you need
just bloom
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
he placed his hands
on my mind
before reaching
for my waist
my hips
or my lips
he didn't call me
beautiful first
he called me
exquisite
- how he touches me
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
for you to see beauty here
does not mean
there is beauty in me
it means there is beauty rooted
so deep within you
you can't help but
see it everywhere
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you tell me to quiet down cause my opinions make me less beautiful but i was not made with a fire in my belly so i could be put out i was not made with a lightness on my tongue so i could be easy to swallow i was made heavy half blade and half silk difficult to forget and not easy for the mind to follow
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
The thing about writing is I can't tell if it's healing or destroying.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
how is it so easy for you to be kind to people he asked milk and honey dripped from my lips as i answered cause people have not been kind to me
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
fall
in love
with your solitude
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
the world gives you so much pain and here you are making gold out of it
- there is nothing purer than that
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i am hopelessly
a lover and
a dreamer and
that will be the
death of me
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
your art
is not about how many people
like your work
your art
is about
if your heart likes your work
if your soul likes your work
it's about how honest
you are with yourself
and you
must never
trade honesty
for relatability
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i have what i have and i am happy iβve lost what iβve lost and i am still happy - outlook
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
most importantly love
like it's the only thing you know how
at the end of the day all this
means nothing
this page
where you're sitting
your degree
your job
the money
nothing even matters
except love and human connection
who you loved
and how deeply you loved them
how you touched the people around you
and how much you gave them
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
when you are broken
and he has left you
do not question
whether you were
enough
the problem was
you were so enough
he was not able to carry it
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you cannot leave
and have me too
i cannot exist in
two places at once
-when you ask if we can still be friends
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
my heart woke me crying last night
how can i help i begged
my heart said
write the book
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i donβt know what living a balanced life feels like
when i am sad
i donβt cry i pour
when i am happy
i donβt smile i glow
when i am angry
i donβt yell i burn
the good thing about
feeling in extremes
is when i love
i give them wings
but perhaps
that isn't
such a good thing
cause they always
tend to leave and
you should see me
when my heart is broken
i don't grieve
i shatter
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
the very thought of you
has my legs spread apart
like an easel with a canvas
begging for art
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
it takes grace to remain kind in cruel situations
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
you look at me and cry
everything hurts
i hold you and whisper
but everything can heal
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i am not a hotel room. i am home
i am not the whiskey you want
i am the water you need
don't come here with expectations
and try to make a vacation out of me
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you must want to spend the rest of your life with yourself first
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
nothing is safer
than the sound of you
reading out loud to me
-the perfect date
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
that is the thing about selfish people. they gamble entire beings. entire souls to please their own.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
what terrifies me most is how we
foam at the mouth with envy
when others succeed
but sigh in relief
when they are failing
our struggle to
celebrate each other is
what's proven most difficult
in being human
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
love will come
and when love comes
love will hold you
love will call your name
and you will melt
sometimes though
love will hurt you but
love will never mean to
love will play no games
cause love knows life
has been hard enough already
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
apparently it is ungraceful of me
to mention my period in public
cause the actual biology
of my body is too real
it is okay to sell what's
between a woman's legs
more than it is okay to
mention its inner workings
the recreational use of
this body is seen as
beautiful while
its nature is
seen as ugly
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
what am i to you he asks
i put my hands in his lap
and whisper you
are every hope
i've ever had
in human form
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i struggle so deeply
to understand
how someone can
pour their entire soul
blood and energy
into someone
without wanting
anything in
return
-i will have to wait till i'm a mother
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you are the faint line between faith and blindly waiting - letter to my future lover
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
your body is a museum of natural disasters can you grasp how stunning that is
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
you were a dragon long before
he came around and said
you could fly
you will remain a dragon
long after he's left
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
do not bother holding onto
that thing that does not want you
-you cannot make it stay
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
trying to convince myself
i am allowed
to take up space
is like writing with
my left hand
when i was born
to use my right
-the idea shrinking is hereditary
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
people say things
meant to rip you in half
but you hold the power to not
turn their words into a knife
and cut yourself
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
there is a difference between someone telling you they love you and them actually loving you
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
no
it won't
be love at
first sight when
we meet it'll be love
at first remembrance cause
i've seen you in my mother's eyes
when she tells me to marry the type
of man i'd want to raise my son to be like
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
Iβd be lying if I said
you make me speechless
the truth is you make my
tongue so weak it forgets
what language to speak in.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i was music
but you had your ears cut off
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
donβt mistake
salt for sugar
if he wants to
be with you
he will
itβs that simple
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
sometimes
the apology
never comes
when it is wanted
and when it comes
it is neither wanted
nor needed
-you are too late
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you have sadness living in places sadness shouldnβt live
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
If I knew what safety looked like, I would have spent less time falling into arms that were not
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i thank the universe
for taking
everything it has taken
and giving to me
everything it is giving
-balance
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
the thing about having
an alcoholic parent
is an alcoholic parent
does not exist
simply
an alcoholic
who could not stay sober
long enough to raise their kids
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
isnβt it such a tragic thing. when you can see it so clearly but the other person doesnβt.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
the next time you
have your coffee black
you'll taste the bitter state he left you in
it will make you weep
but you'll never
stop drinking
you'd rather have the
darkest parts of him
than have nothing
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
youβve touched me
without even
touching me.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
the next time he
points out the
hair on your legs is
growing back remind
that boy your body
is not his home
he is a guest
warn him to
never outstep
his welcome again
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
To be soft is to be powerful
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i didn't know why
i split myself open
for other knowing
sewing myself up
hurts this much
afterward
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you are in the habit
of co-depending
on people to
make up for what
you think you lack
who tricked you
into believing
another person
was meant to complete you
when the most they can do is complement
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
the way they
leave
tells you
everything
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
we all move forward when
we recognize how resilient
and striking the women
around us are
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
losing you was the becoming of myself
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
we are all born/ so beautiful/ the greatest tragedy is/ being convinced we are not
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
a daughter should
not have to
beg her father
for a relationship
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
give to those who have nothing to give to you -
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
i will not have you
build me into your life
when
what i want is to
build a life with you
- the difference
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
what i miss most is how you loved me. but what i didn't know was how you loved me had so much to do with the person i was. it was a reflection of everything i gave you. coming back to me. how did i not see that. how. did i sit here soaking in the idea that no one else would love me that way. when it was i that taught you. when it was i that showed you how to fill. the way i needed to be filled. how cruel i was to myself. giving you credit for my warmth simply because you had felt it. thinking it was you who gave me strength. wit. beauty. simply because you recognized it. as if i was already not these things before i met you. as if i did not remain all these things after you left.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
how is it so easy for you
to be kind to people he askedmilk and honey dripped
from my lips as i answered
cause people have not
been kind to me
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i am sending my love to your eyes. may they always see goodness in people. and may you always practice kindness. may we see each other as one. may we be nothing short of in love with everything the universe has to offer. and may we always stay grounded. rooted. our feet planted firmly onto the earth.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
i don't blame you for not knowing how to remain soft with me. sometimes i stay up thinking of all the places you are hurting which you'll never care to mention. i come from the same aching blood. from the same bone so desperate for attention i collapse in on myself. i am your daughter. i know the small talk is the only way you know how to tell me you love me. cause it is the only way i know how to tell you.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
if he can't help but
degrade other women
when they're not looking
if toxicity is central to his language
he could hold you
in his lap and be soft
honey
that man could feed you sugar and
douse you in rose water
but that still could not
make him sweet
-if you want to know what the type of man he is
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
the idea that we are
so capable of love
but still choose
to be toxic
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
the thing worth holding on to would not have let go
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you treat them like they
have a heart like yours
but not everyone can be as
soft and as tender
you don't see the
person they are
you see the person
they have the potential to be
you give and give till
they pull everything out of you
and leave you empty.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you look just like your mother
i guess i do carry her tenderness well
you both have the same eyes
cause we are both exhausted
and the hands
we share the same wilting fingers
but that rage your mother doesn't wear that rage
you're right
this rage is the one thing
i get from my father
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
sex takes the consent of two
if one person is lying there not doing anything
cause they are not ready
or not in the mood
or simply don't want to
yet the other is having sex
with their body it's not love
it is rape
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
we began
with honesty
let us end
in it too
- us
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
if you are not enough for yourself you will never be enough for someone else
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
the letting go has
become the forgetting
which is the most
pleasant and saddest thing
to have happened
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
the rape will
tear you
in half
but it
will not
end you
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
bloom beautifully
dangerously
loudly
bloom softly
however you need
just bloom
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
I know I
should crumble
for better reasons
but have you seen
that boy he brings
the sun to its knees
every
night.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
My tongue is sour
from the hunger
of missing you
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
other women's bodies
are not our battlegrounds
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
accept that you deserve more
than painful love
life is moving
the healthiest thing
for your heart is
to move with it
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
he only whispers i love you as he slips his hands down the waistband of your pants. this is where you must understand the difference between want and needβyou may want that boy but you certainly don't need him
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
Perhaps
I don't deserve
Nice things
Cause I am paying
For sins I don't
Remember
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
it must hurt to know i am your most beautiful regret
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i am losing parts of you like i lose eyelashes
unknowingly and everywhere
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you tell me
i am not like most girls
and learn to kiss me with your eyes closed
something about the phrase - something about
how i have to be unlike the women
i call sisters in order to be wanted
makes me want to spit your tongue out
like i am supposed to be proud you picked me
as if i should be relieved you think
i am better than them
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
Like your mouth has the gift of reading and I'm your favorite book. Find your favorite page in the soft spot between my legs and read it carefully. Fluently. Vividly. Don't you dare leave a single word untouched. And I swear my ending will be so good.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
my heart aches for sisters more than anything
it aches for women helping women
like flowers ache for spring
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
of course i want to be successful
but i don't crave success for me
i need to be successful to gain
enough milk and honey
to help those around
me succeed
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
that is the thing about selfish people. they
gamble entire beings. entire souls to please their own. one second they are holding you like the world in their lap and the next they have belittled you to a mere picture. a moment. something of the past. one second. they swallow you up and whisper they want to spend the rest of their life with you. but the moment they sense fear. they are already halfway out the door. without having the nerve to let you go with grace. as if the human heart means that little to them.
and after all this. after all of the taking. the nerve. isn't it sad and funny how people have more guts these days to undress you with their fingers than they do pick up the phone and call. apologize. for the loss. and this is how you lose her.
- selfish
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you were so afraid
of my voice
i decided to be
afraid of it too
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you must enter a relationship with yourself before anyone else
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
on days
like this
i need you to
run your fingers
through my hair
and speak softly
- you
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
he asks me what i do i tell him i work for a small company that makes packaging forβ he stops me midsentence no not what you do to pay the bills what drives you crazy what keeps you up at night
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
every revolution starts and ends with his lips
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you were not wrong for leaving
you were wrong for coming back
and thinking
you could have me
when it was convenient
and leave when it was not
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you
are your own
soulmate
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you have to stop searching for why at some point you have to leave it alone
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
did you think i was a city
big enough for a weekend getaway
i am the town surrounding it
the one you've never heard of
but always pass through
there are no neon lights here
no skyscapers or statues
but there is thunder
for i make bridges tremble
i am not street meat i am homemade jam
thick enough to cut the sweetest
thing you lips will touch
i am not police sirens
i am the crackle of a fireplace
i'd burn you and you still
couldn't take your eyes off of me
cause i'd look so beautiful doing it
you'd blush
i am not a hotel room i am home
i am not the whiskey you want
i am the water you need
don't come here with expectations
and try to make a vacation out of me
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
Your name is
the strongest
positive and negative
connotation in any language
it either lights me up or
leaves me aching for days
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
it is a part of the human experience to feel pain do not be afraid open yourself to it -
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
prehaps the saddest of all are those who living waiting for someone they're not sure exists
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
kiss me like i am the center point of gravity and you are falling into me like my soul is the focal point of yours.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
i can't tell if my mother is
terrified or in love with
my father it all
looks the same
i flinch when you touch me
i fear it is him
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
your mother
is in the habit of
offering more love
than you can carry
your father is absent
you are a war
the border between two countries
the collateral damage
the paradox that joins the two
but also splits them apart
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
he says
i am sorry i am not an easy person to want
i look at him surprised
who said i wanted easy
i donβt crave easy
i crave goddamn difficult
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
stay
i whispered
as you
shut the door behind you
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
who tricked you into believing another person was meant to complete you when the most they can do is complement
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
emptying out of my mother's belly
was my first act of disappearance
learning to shrink for a family
who likes their daughters invisible
was the second
the art of being empty
is simple
believe them when they say
you are nothing
repeat it to yourself
like a wish
i am nothing
i am nothing
i am nothing
so often
the only reason you know
you're still alive is from the
heaving of your chest
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you said. if it is meant to be. fate will bring us back together. for a second i wonder if you are really that naive. if you really believe fate works like that. as if it lives in the sky staring down at us. as if it has five fingers and spends its time placing us like pieces of chess. as if it is not the choices we make. who taught you that. tell me. who convinced you. youβve been given a heart and a mind that isnβt yours to use. that your actions do not define what will become of you. i want to scream and shout itβs us you fool. weβre the only ones that can bring us back together. but instead i sit quietly. smiling softly through quivering lips thinking. isnβt it such a tragic thing. when you can see it so clearly but the other person doesnβt.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
love is not cruel/ we are cruel/ love is not a game/ we have made a game/ out of love
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you deserve to be completely found in your surroundings not lost within them
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
how do you turn
a forest fire like me
so soft i turn into
running water
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you were temptingly beautiful
but stung when i got close
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you may want that boy but you certainly don't need him
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you must have known you were wrong when your fingers were dipped inside me searching for honey that would not come for you
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i will tell you about selfish people. even when they know they will hurt you they walk into your life to taste you because you are the type of being they donβt want to miss out on. you are too much shine to not be felt. so when they have gotten a good look at everything you have to offer. when they have taken your skin your hair and your secrets with them. when they realize how real this is. how much of a storm you are and it hits them.
that is when the cowardice sets in. that is when the person you thought they were is replaced by the sad reality of what they are. that is when they lose every fighting bone in their body and leave after saying you will find better than me.
you will stand there naked with half of them still hidden somewhere inside you and sob. asking them why they did it. why they forced you to love them when they had no intention of loving you back and theyβll say something along the lines of i just had to try. i had to give it a chance. it was you after all.
but that isnβt romantic. it isnβt sweet. the idea that they were so engulfed by your existence they had to risk breaking it for the sake of knowing they werenβt the one missing out. your existence meant that little next to their curiosity of you.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
there is no bigger illusion in the world
than the idea that a woman will
bring dishonor into a home
if she tries to keep her heart
and her body safe
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
love is not cruel
we are cruel
love is not a game
we have made a game
out of love
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
how can she love a man who is busy loving someone he can never get his hands on again.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
if the hurt comes
so will the happiness
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
some people are so bitter to them you must be kindest
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
he was supposed to be
the first male love of your life
you still search for him
everywhere
- father
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you mustn't have to make them want you they must want you themselves
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
accept that you deserve more
than painful love
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β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
accept yourself as you were designed
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β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you pinned
my legs to
the ground
with your feet
and demanded
i stand up
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
You were so distant I forgot you were there at all.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
it is your blood
in my veins
tell me how i'm
supposed to forget
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you were the most beautiful thing i'd ever felt till now. and i was convinced you'd remain the most beautiful thing i'd ever feel. do you know how limiting that is. to think at such a ripe young age i'd experienced the most exhilarating person i'd ever meet. how i'd spend the rest of my life just settling. to think i'd tasted the rawest form of honey and everything else would be refined and synthetic. that nothing else would be refined and synthetic. that nothing beyond this point would add up. that all the years beyond me could not combine themselves to be sweeter than you.
- falsehood
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β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i do not want to have you
to fill the empty parts of me
i want to be full on my own
i want to be so complete
i could light a whole city
and then
i want to have you
cause the two of us combined
could set it on fire
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
i donβt know what living a balanced life feels like
when i am sad
i donβt cry i pour
when i am happy
i donβt smile i glow
when i am angry
i donβt yell i burn
the good thing about feeling in extremes is
when i love i give them wings
but perhaps that isnβt
such a good thing cause
they always tend to leave
and you should see me
when my heart is broken
i donβt grieve
i shatter
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β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
it means nothing to me if he loves you if he canβt do a single wretched thing about it
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β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
he isn't coming back
whispered my head
he has to
sobbed my heart
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
Iβve had sex, she said
But I donβt know
What making love
Feels like
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
I understand this world broke you. It has been so hard on your feet. I don't blame you for not knowing how to remain soft with me. Sometimes I stay up thinking of all the places you are hurting which you'll never care to mention. I come from the same aching blood. From the same bone so desperate for attention I collapse in on myself. I am your daughter. I know the small talk is the only way you know how to tell me you love me. Cause it's the only way I know how to tell you.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
people go
but how
they left
always stays
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β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you wrap your fingers around my hair and pull this is how you make music out of me - foreplay
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Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
perhaps the saddest of all are those who live waiting for someone theyβre not sure exists - 7 billion people
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Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
i've seen you in my mother's eyes when she tells me to marry the type of man i'd want to raise my son to be like
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
thatβs the
thing about love
it marinates your lips
till the only word your
mouth remembers
is his name
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Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
this is where you must
understand the difference
between want and need
you may want that boy
but you certainly
don't need him
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
our backs
tell stories
no books have
the spine to
carry - women of color
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Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
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i need someone
who knows struggle
as well as i do
someone
willing to hold my feet in their lap
on days it is too difficult to stand
the type of person who gives
exactly what i need
before i even know i need it
the type of lover who hears me
even when i do not speak
is the type of understanding
i demand
- the type of lover i need
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β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you leave
but you donβt stay gone
why do you do that
why do you
abandon the thing you want to keep
why do you linger
in a place you do not want to stay
why do you think itβs okay to do both
go and return all at once
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
I love that about us
how capable we are of feeling
how unafraid we are of breaking
and tend to our wounds with grace
just being a woman
calling myself
a woman
makes me utterly whole
and complete
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
remind that boy your body is not his home he is a guest warn him to never outstep his welcome again
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i am your daughter. i know the small talk is the only way you know how to tell me you love me. cause it is the only way i know how to tell you.
β
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Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
i'd be lying if i said
you make me speechless
the truth is you make my
tongue so weak it forgets
what language to speak in
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you are snakeskin
and i keep shedding you somehow
my mind is forgetting
every exquisite detail
of your face
the letting go has
become the forgetting
which is the most
pleasant and the saddest thing
to have happened
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
it takes grace to remains kind in cruel situations
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
do not beg for what does not want to stay
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β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
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Half blade and half silk, difficult to forget and not easy for the mind to follow
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β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
love made the danger
in you look like safety
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
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neither of us is happy but neither of us wants to leave so we keep breaking one another and calling it love
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Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
we are all born
so beautiful
the greatest tragedy is
being convinced we are not
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i didn't leave because
i stopped loving you
i left because the longer
i stayed the less
i loved myself
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i love that about us
how capable we are of feeling
how unafraid we are of breaking
β
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you might not have been my first love but you were the love that made all the other loves irrelevant
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Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
she will be a sad replacement of the woman you let slip. nothing she does will excite you and this will break her.
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Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
the one who arrives after you will remind me love is supposed to be soft he will taste like the poetry i wish i could write
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Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
more than anything
i want to save you
from myself
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you are your own soul mate
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
donβt mistake
salt for sugar
if he wants to
be with you
he will
itβs that simple
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Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
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how cruel i was to myself. giving you credit for my warmth simply because you had felt it. thinking it was you who gave me strength. wit. beauty. simply because you recognized it. as if i was already not those things before i met you. as if i did not remain all these once you left.
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
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i want to apologize to all the women i have called pretty before iβve called them intelligent or brave i am sorry i made it sound as though something as simple as what youβre born with is the most you have to be proud of when your spirit has crushed mountains from now on i will say things like you are resilient or you are extraordinary not because i donβt think youβre pretty but because you are so much more than that
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Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
there is a difference between
someone telling you
they love you and
them actually
loving you
β
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Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
do you know how limiting that is. to think at such a ripe young age iβd experienced the most exhilarating person iβd ever meet. how iβd spend the rest of my life just settling.
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Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
something about the phrase - something about
how i have to be unlike the women
i call sisters in order to be wanted
makes me want to spit your tongue out
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i flinch when you touch me
i fear it is him
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
i am not a hotel room i am home
i am not the whiskey you want
i am the water you need
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
when my mother was pregnant with her second child i was four i pointed at her swollen belly confused at how my mother had gotten so big in such little time my father scooped me in his tree trunk arms and said the closest thing to god on this earth is a womanβs body itβs where life comes from and to have a grown man tell me something so powerful at such a young age changed me to see the entire universe rested at my motherβs feet
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
give to those
who have nothing
to give to you
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
loneliness is a sign you are in desperate need of yourself
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
you look like you smell of
honey and no pain
let me have a taste of that
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i was made heavy half blade and half silk difficult to forget and not easy for the mind to follow
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
you were not wrong for leaving you were wrong for coming back and thinking you could have me when it was convenient and leave when it was not
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
my mother sacrificed her dreams
so i could dream
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
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.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
the closest thing to god on this earth
is a womanβs body itβs where life comes from
and to have a grown man tell me something
so powerful at such a young age
changed me to see the entire universe
rested at my motherβs feet
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
siamo nate tutte
bellissime
la piΓΉ grande tragedia Γ¨
convincerci di non esserlo
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β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
so that's what you do
you command attention
my cheeks flush as
i smile shyly
confessing
i can't help it
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
it takes grace to remain kind in cruel situations fall in love with your solitude
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
you
have been
taught your legs
are a pitstop for men
that need a place to rest
a vacancy, body empty enough
for guests cause no one
ever comes and is
willing to
stay
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
It must hurt to know I am your most beautiful regret.
β
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
father. you always call to say nothing in particular. you ask what i'm doing or where i am and when the silence stretches like a lifetime between us i scramble to find questions to keep the conversation going. what i long to say most is. i understand this world broke you. it has been so hard on your feet. i don't blame you for not knowing how to remain soft with me. sometimes i stay up thinking of all the places you are hurting which you'll never care to mention. i come from the same aching blood. from the same bone so desperate for attention i collapse in on myself. i am your daughter. i know the small talk is the only way you know how to tell me you love me. cause it is the only way I know how to tell you.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
when my mother opens her mouth to have a conversation at dinner my father shoves the word hush between her lips and tells her to never speak with her mouth full this is how the women in my family learned to live with their mouths closed
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
Of you are not enough for yourself
you will never be enough for someone else.
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
to do list (after the breakup)
1. take refuge in your bed
2. cry. till the tears stop (this will take a few days).
3. donβt listen to slow songs.
4. delete their number from your phone even though it is memorized on your fingertips.
5. donβt look at old photos.
6. find the closest ice cream shop and treat yourself to two scoops of mint chocolate chip. the mint will calm your heart. you deserve the chocolate.
7. buy new bed sheets.
8. collect all the gifts, t-shirts, and everything with their smell on it and drop it off at a donation center.
9. plan a trip.
10. perfect the art of smiling and nodding when someone brings their name up in conversation.
11. start a new project.
12. whatever you do. do not call.
13. do not beg for what does not want to stay.
14. stop crying at some point.
15. allow yourself to feel foolish for believing you couldβve built the rest of your life in someone elseβs stomach.
16. breathe.
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
L'amore verrΓ
e quando l'amore verrΓ
l'amore ti stringerΓ
l'amore ti chiamerΓ per nome
e ti squaglierai
talvolta perΓ²
l'amore ti farΓ male ma
l'amore non lo farΓ mai apposta
l'amore non farΓ giochetti
perchΓ© l'amore sa che la vita
Γ¨ stata giΓ abbastanza dura
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β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
the first boy that kissed me
held my shoulders down
like the handlebars of
the first bicycle
he ever rode
i was five
he had the smell of
starvation on his lips
which he picked up from
his father feasting on his mother at 4am
he was the first boy
to teach me my body was
for giving to those that wanted
that i should feel anything
less than whole
and my god
did I feel as empty
as his mother at 4:25am
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i know it's hard
believe me
i know it feels like
tomorrow will never come
and today will be the most
difficult day to get through
but i swear you will get through
the hurt will pass
as it always does
if you give it time and
let it so let it
go
slowly
like a broken promise
let it go
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
when my mother was pregnant
with her second child i was four
i pointed at her swollen belly confused at how
my mother had gotten so big in such little time
my father scooped me in his tree trunk arms and
said the closest thing to god on this earth
is a woman's body it's where life comes from
and to have a grown man tell me something
so powerful at such a young age
changed me to see the entire universe
rested at my mother's feet
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
you tell me to quiet down cause
my opinions make me less beautiful
but i was not made with a fire in my belly
so i could be put out
i was not made with a lightness on my tongue
so i could be easy to swallow
i was made heavy
half blade and half silk
difficult to forget and not easy
for the mind to follow
β
β
Rupi Kaur (Milk and Honey)
β
you plough into me with two fingers and 1 am mostly shocked, it feels like rubber against an open wound, i do not like it. you begin pushing faster and faster, but i feel nothing, you search my face for a reaction so i begin acting like the naked women in the videos you watch when you think no oneβs looking, i imitate their moans, hollow and hungry, you ask if it feels good and i say yes so quickly it sounds rehearsed, but the acting, you do not notice.
β
β
Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)
β
i am confident i am over you. so much that some mornings i wake up with a smile on my face and my hands pressed together thanking the universe for pulling you out of me. thank god i cry. thank god you left. i would not be the empire i am today if you had stayed.
but then.
there are some nights i imagine what i might do if you showed up. how if you walked into the room this very second every awful thing youβve ever done would be tossed out the closet window and all the love would rise up again. it would pour through my eyes as if it never really left in the first place. as if itβs been practicing how to stay silent so long only so it could be this loud on your arrival. can someone explain that. how even when the love leaves. it doesnβt leave. how even when i am so past you. i am so helplessly brought back to you.
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Rupi Kaur (milk and honey)