I’m back with more of my favorite poems from Rupi Kaur’s second collection, the sun and her flowers.

i long/for you/but you long/for someone else/i deny the one/who wants me/cause i want someone else-the human condition (Kaur 39) 

i hardened under the last loss. it took something/ human out of me. i used to be so deeply emotional i’d/crumble on demand. but now the water has made its/ exit. of course i care about the ones around me. i’m just/ struggling to show it.a wall is getting in the way. i used/to dream of being so strong nothing could shake me./now. i am. so strong. that nothing shakes me.
and all i dream is to soften. –numbness (Kaur 60)

the iron of loneliness/is we all feel it/at the same time –together (Kaur 79)

when the world comes crashing at your feet/it’s okay to let others/help pick up the pieces/if we’re present to take part in your happiness/when your circumstances are great/we are more than capable/ of sharing your pain – community (kaur 97)

when it came to listening
my mother taught me silence
if you are drowning their voice with yours
how will you hear them she asked

when it came to speaking
she said do it with commitment
every word you say
is your own responsibility

when it came to being
she said be tender and tough at once
you need to be vulnerable to live fully
but rough enough to survive it all

when it came to choosing
she asked me to be thankful
for the choices i had that
she never had the privilege of making

–lessons from mumma (Kaur 122)

the day you have everything/i hope you remember/when you had nothing (Kaur 219)

take the compliment/do not shy away from/another thing that belongs to you (Kaur 240)