To The Girls Who’ve Been Taught To Fear Love All Their Lives

there’s a word called déjà vu,

which is the feeling when you

feel something that is

happening, has already

happened before

but imagine having a feeling

that something will happen

knowing the inevitability of

kissing someone who hides

butterflies under his tongue

and later, you feel a fluttering

in the pit of your stomach too

imagine knowing how weak

your knees will feel when he

cries in your arms for the first

time, when he’ll be disarmingly

honest, when he’ll tell you, in

your smile he finds reassurance

in the warmth of your palm and

the scent of spices you crush to

mix in your morning tea, he finds

respite,

imagine how dry

your throat will become when

you say their name out loud, it

will feel like your mouth getting

acquainted with a new language

imagine holding all of this certainty

in your heart, yet being afraid to fall

in love, because the world has taught

you to fear what gives you pleasure,

shrink away from the light towards

which you’re supposed to grow.