Perhaps magic is in the habit of choosing sharp-eyed girls who ask too many questions for their own good. Perhaps it chooses girls who are not unlove… - Nikita Gill

Your heart will fix itself. It’s your mind you need to worry about. Your mind where you locked the memories, your mind where you have kept pieces of the ones that hurt you, that still cut through you like shards of glass. Your mind will keep you up at night, make you cry, destroy you over and over again. You need to convince your mind that it has to let go…because your heart already knows how to heal.

Fathers, do not let your sons forget

Do not let your sons forget
where their essence was just formed,
when their bodies were most vulnerable,
they were protected by the womb of a woman.

If they ever call all women weak,
remind them of the strength of their mother
who pulled her whole body apart
to give theirs a home.

Tell your daughters how you love your body.
Tell them how they must love theirs.

Tell them to be proud of every bit of themselves — from their tiger stripes to the soft flesh of their thighs,
whether there is a little of them or a lot,
whether freckles cover their face or not,
whether their curves are plentiful or slim,
whether their hair is thick, curly, straight, long or short.

Tell them how they inherited
their ancestors, souls in their smiles,
that their eyes carry countries
that breathed life into history,
that the swing of their hips
does not determine their destiny.

Tell them never to listen when bodies are critiqued.
Tell them every woman’s body is beautiful
because every woman’s soul is unique.