Quote

I know a few things to be true. I do not know where I am going, where I have come from is disappearing, I am unwelcome and my beauty is not beauty here. My body is burning with the shame of not belonging, my body is longing.

Warsan Shire

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Warsan Shire
Age: 36
Born: 1988
Born: January 1
Poet
Writer
Republic of Kenya
True
Unwelcome
Body
Disappearing
Come
Belonging
Going
Longing
Things
Burning
Disappear
Shame
Beauty

More quotes by Warsan Shire

Image
The ego hurts you like this: you become obsessed with the one person who does not love you. blind to the rest who do.
Warsan Shire
Image
There is no intimacy like that between two women who have chosen to be sisters.
Warsan Shire
Image
Don't assume, ask. Be kind. Tell the truth. Don't say anything you can't stand behind fully. Have integrity. Tell people how you feel.
Warsan Shire
Image
Make peace with your body, it's not manmade, there are no flaws, there are no mistakes.
Warsan Shire
Image
I think in Somali, I cuss in Somali, when I'm afraid I reach for somali and this language is very rich, very filling. It's an unflinching language the crudest most terrible things sound perfectly normal in Somali.
Warsan Shire
Image
I won't glorify or romanticise heartbreak, for me it was a kind of death and I was forced to keep living.
Warsan Shire
Image
My favourite people, biggest inspirations and closest friends are all women. Not a coincidence.
Warsan Shire
Image
Light attracts light. But sometimes your light attracts moths and your warmth attracts parasites. Protect your space and energy
Warsan Shire
Image
My heart is a flower blossoming out of my mouth.
Warsan Shire
Image
I want to love, but my hair smells of war and running and running.
Warsan Shire
Image
I am a lover without a lover. I am lovely and lonely and I belong deeply to myself.
Warsan Shire
Image
I tore up and ate my own passport in an airport hotel once. I'm bloated with language I can’t afford to forget.
Warsan Shire
Image
My name is indigenous to my country, it is not easy to pronounce, it takes effort to say correctly and I am absolutely in love with the sound of it and its meaning. Also, it's not the kind of name you baby, slip into sweet talk mid sentence, late night phone conversation, whisper into the receiver kind of name, so, of that I am glad.
Warsan Shire
Image
I belong deeply to myself.
Warsan Shire
Image
Two people who were once very close can without blame or grand betrayal become strangers. Perhaps this is the saddest thing in the world.
Warsan Shire
Image
Every mouth you’ve ever kissed was just practice. All the bodies you’ve ever undressed and ploughed in to were preparing you for me. I don’t mind tasting them in the memory of your mouth. Was it a long journey? Did it take you long to find me? You’re here now, welcome home.
Warsan Shire
Image
And 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. And if he wants to leave, then let him leave. You are terrifying, and strange, and beautiful. Something not everyone knows how to love.
Warsan Shire
Image
You can't make homes out of human beings.
Warsan Shire
Image
Perhaps, the problem is not the intensity of your love, but the quality of the people you are loving.
Warsan Shire
Image
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.
Warsan Shire