Nayyirah Waheed Poems

“you
not wanting me
was
the beginning of me
wanting myself
thank you”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“expect sadness
like
you expect rain.
both,
cleanse you.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“if
the ocean
can calm itself,
so can you.
we
are both
salt water
mixed with
air.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“i don't pay attention to the
world ending.
it has ended for me
many times
and began again in the morning.”
― Nayyirah Waheed, Salt

“Someone can be madly in love with you and still not be ready. They can love you in a way you have never been loved and still not join you on the bridge. And whatever their reasons you must leave. Because you never ever have to inspire anyone to meet you on the bridge. You never ever have to convince someone to do the work to be ready. There is more extraordinary love, more love that you have never seen, out here in this wide and wild universe. And there is the love that will be ready.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“remember,
you were a writer
before
you ever
put
pen to paper.
just because you were not writing
externally.
does not mean you were not writing
internally.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“i love myself.'

the
quietest.
simplest.
most
powerful.
revolution.
ever.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“i am mine.
before i am ever anyone else's.”
― Nayyirah Waheed, Nejma

“Just because someone desires you, it does not mean that they value you.


Read it over.

Again.

Let those words resonate in your mind.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“when you meet that person. a person. one of your soulmates. let the connection. relationship. be what it is. it may be five mins. five hours. five days. five months. five years. a lifetime. five lifetimes. let it manifest itself the way it is meant to. it has an organic destiny. this way if it stays or if it leaves, you will be softer. from having been loved this authentically. souls come into. return. open. and sweep through your life for a myriad of reasons. let them be who. and what they are meant.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“i loved you
because
it was easier
than
loving myself.”
― Nayyirah Waheed