The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur Read Free Book Online

replaced by a girl younger than me
    as though men yield power with age
    but women grow into irrelevance
    they can keep their lies
    for i have just gotten started
    i feel as though i just left the womb
    my twenties are the warm-up
    for what i’m really about to do
    wait till you see me in my thirties
    now that will be a proper introduction
    to the nasty. wild. woman in me.
    how can i leave before the party’s started
    rehearsals begin at forty
    i ripen with age
    i do not come with an expiration date
    and now
    for the main event
    curtains up at fifty
    let’s begin the show
    - timeless
    to heal
    you have to
    get to the root
    of the wound
    and kiss it all the way up

    they threw us in a pit to end each other
    so they wouldn’t have to
    starved us of space so long
    we had to eat each other up to stay alive
    look up look up look up
    to catch them looking down at us
    how can we compete with each other
    when the real monster is too big
    to take down alone
    when my daughter is living in my belly
    i will speak to her like
    she’s already changed the world
    she will walk out of me on a red carpet
    fully equipped with the knowledge
    that she’s capable of
    anything she sets her mind to

    (ode to raymond douillet’s a short tour and farewell)
    Â 
    Â 
    Â 
    now
    is not the time
    to be quiet
    or make room for you
    when we have had no room at all
    now
    is our time
    to be mouthy
    get as loud as we need
    to be heard

    representation
    is vital
    otherwise the butterfly
    surrounded by a group of moths
    unable to see itself
    will keep trying to become the moth
    - representation

    take the compliment
    do not shy away from
    another thing that belongs to you
    our work should equip
    the next generation of women
    to outdo us in every field
    this is the legacy we’ll leave behind
    - progress

    the road to changing the world
    is never-ending
    - pace yourself
    the necessity to protect you overcame me
    i love you too much
    to remain quiet as you weep
    watch me rise to kiss the poison out of you
    i will resist the temptation
    of my tired feet
    and keep marching
    with tomorrow in one hand
    and a fist in the other
    i will carry you to freedom
    - love letter to the world

    have your eyes ever fallen upon a beast like me
    i have the spine of a mulberry tree
    the neck of a sunflower
    sometimes i am the desert
    at times the rain forest
    but always the wild
    my belly brims over the waistband of my pants
    each strand of hair frizzing out like a lifeline
    it took a long time to become
    such a sweet rebellion
    back then i refused to water my roots
    till i realized
    if i am the only one
    who can be the wilderness
    then let me be the wilderness
    the tree trunk cannot become the branch
    the jungle cannot become the garden
    so why should i
    - it is so full here in myself
    many try
    but cannot tell the difference
    between a marigold and my skin
    both of them are an orange sun
    blinding the ones who have not learned to love the light

    if you have never
    stood with the oppressed
    there is still time
    - lift them
    the year is done. i spread the past three hundred
sixty-five days before me on the living room carpet.
    here is the month i decided to shed everything not deeply committed to my dreams. the day i refused to be a victim to the self-pity. here is the week i slept in the garden. the spring i wrung the self-doubt by its neck. hung your kindness up. took down the calendar. the week i danced so hard my heart learned to float above water again. the summer i unscrewed all the mirrors from their walls. no longer needed to see myself to feel seen. combed the weight out of my hair.
    i fold the good days up and place them in my back pocket for safekeeping. draw the match. cremate the unnecessary. the light of the fire warms my toes. i pour myself a glass of warm water to cleanse myself for january. here i go. stronger and wiser into the new.

    there is
    nothing left
    to worry about
    the sun and her flowers are here.

    and then there are