84 Quotes by Warsan Shire

You tried to change didn’t you? Closed your mouth more, tried to be softer, prettier, less volatile, less awake... You can’t make homes out of human beings. Someone should have already told you that.

With you, intimacy colours my voice.even ‘hello’ sounds like ‘come here'.

Loving you was like going to war; I never came back the same.

How far have you walked for men who’ve never held your feet in their laps?

You are her mother.Why did you not warn her,hold her like a rotting boatand tell her that men will not love herif she is covered in continents,if her teeth are small colonies,if her stomach is an islandif her thighs are borders?What man wants to lie downand watch the world burnin his bedroom?Your daughter ’s face is a small riot,her hands are a civil war,a refugee camp behind each ear,a body littered with ugly things.But God,doesn’t she wearthe world well?

Sometimes it feels like someone else is wearing my body.

Later that night she picked the polish offwith her front teeth until the bed you sharedfor seven years seemed speckled with glitterand blood.

It's not my responsibility to be beautiful. I'm not alive for that purpose. My existence is not about how desirable you find me.

We took such care of tomorrow, but died on the way there.