Azra Tabassum's Blog, page 107

"Had I told the seaWhat I felt for you,It would have left its shores,Its shells,Its fish,And..."

“Had I told the sea

What I felt for you,

It would have left its shores,

Its shells,

Its fish,

And followed me.”

- Nizar Qabbani (via oofpoetry)

"Love is choosing, the snake said.The kingdom of god is within youbecause you ate it."

“Love is choosing, the snake said.

The kingdom of god is within you

because you ate it.”

- Margaret Atwood, Quattrocento
(via dhvany)

Azra, a boy I loved a year ago was in the newspaper this morning for raping his new girlfriend and I don't understand, I feel so lost.

It is very scary when the person you thought you loved turns out to be someone you don’t even know.

there should be a demand to create mobile layouts for people because as always, mine is the complete...

there should be a demand to create mobile layouts for people because as always, mine is the complete bomb

Here’s to the heartbreak that put us together. Here’s to your strength. Here’s to...

Here’s to the heartbreak that put us together. Here’s to your strength. Here’s to my courage. Long may they lift their proud heads and roar together. Long may we stay tender and kind. Long may we stay. Ameen.

"Being in love with you is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done. And I don’t mean because I’m..."

“Being in love with you is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done. And I don’t mean because I’m worried that you’ll break my heart or in some horrible way the universe will twist us into hating each other. What I mean is that I am growing with you and this is scary. This is scary because I have been stretching towards the same sun facing the same window in the same house breathing the same air. Being with you is like walking outside for the first time and realising that there is more to life than I’ve ever known. It is like showing a toddler a picture of a constellation and watching them fail to understand the vastness of it all. That the world is big and we are small and huge all at the same time and how can this be? That we can exist at the same time as every other extraordinary thing on this planet. How can this be that with you, I am wide eyed and trembling and delirious. That I can walk into this massive God filled place together, feel the steady weight of you at my side and think ‘I did not know any of this wonder existed at all.’”

- Azra.T., An Education

to all my muslim girls out there who have unintentionally hurt their mothers, how do you deal with...

to all my muslim girls out there who have unintentionally hurt their mothers, how do you deal with the guilt of it?????

You can read the rest of this short story in my book Shaking The...

You can read the rest of this short story in my book Shaking The Trees which is available right here!

You look like a gypsy jazz queen. My heart is yours.

You sweet thing, but I don’t want your heart! Give it to somebody who’ll appreciate it

"‘Girls like you’ your mother says ‘are going to be disappointed a lot.’ She’s chopping coriander..."

“

‘Girls like you’ your mother says

‘are going to be disappointed a lot.’

She’s chopping coriander so fast that her hand is a blur

and you’re 12 and you’re standing

like a tremble, grubby knees and tear stained cheeks,

an offering in front of her

‘Why?’ Your voice is a quiet shake.

She puts the knife down and calls you ‘jaan’

she holds your face in her wet hands,

you don’t flinch because this

is what love looks like

she kisses your forehead like forgiveness

‘because you mean what you say,

you think other people are the same.’

She tells you that she spent four years

trying to learn their language

but people ask how you are

and walk away before you can tell them.

‘I’d rather be silent.’ She says.

‘At least being quiet is honest.’

You’ll come home seven years later

wearing your heart like a bruise

on the inside of your sleeve

‘mama,’ you’ll say, voice like a thunder crack

‘he said he loved me, and I believed him,

I shouldn’t have,

I think that he lied.’

She’ll be older then, but she’ll kiss you

just as tender, just as birdlike.

‘Is it my fault?’ You’ll ask.

She is half lioness, half woman. She is all roar.

‘Listen to me’ she calls you her soul again.

She says it in your language so you know

that she means it.

‘You are so infinitely tender,’ she takes the frown

of your face in her hands and holds it carefully

‘People will not always know what to do with that.

You can’t ever be sorry for the way you loved,

You can’t be sorry for who you loved.

Don’t ever let them bend you backwards

don’t let them make you hard or bitter.’

Her voice turns into a growl

‘You did not get this from me.

Somewhere inside of you there is rain.

Somewhere in your stomach,

something beautiful is growing

and it is infinite.

Don’t you let them try and take that from you,

you are open and you are a flood,

someday someone is going to want to die in you.’

”

- “Jaan-E-Maan” by Azra Tabassum (via csebastian)