wild freedom and deep trust aren’t strangers to each other at all…

wild freedom and deep trust aren’t strangers to each other at all… if anything, they help each other grow.

– butterflies rising

that’s the thing about freedom and trust… they aren’t strangers to each other at all. i don’t think you ever feel more like letting your heart run wild than you do with someone to whom the state of your heart matters. and i don’t think you ever feel yourself more pulled as strongly as you do to someone who makes you feel free.

– butterflies rising

not just when she's flowers but when she's fire

could you
love her, still…
when she’s not only
soft in your arms
but when she’s wild
with the moon and restless…
and maybe just a little out of reach
from your fingertips.
could you love her, still,
when she’s not only sweet and
resting easy on your chest,
but when she’s wild blossomed in the night
and searching for more inside of herself
than who you may think she is.
could you love her
not just when she’s flowers
but when she’s fire.
she has to know… if she lets you close…
when she blooms wild and burns bright…
could you love her, still.

– butterflies rising

the next time
a boy wants to bring me flowers,
he has to want to love
my fire too.

– butterflies rising

he loved my fire…
as long as i was held tight within his grasp.
but when i was out of his line of sight,
i’d better be somewhere
soft-voiced and southern-charmed,
sitting still and not looking too pretty.
and so i made myself sweeter and smaller
and less and less and less, for his fears…
and in the end, he still couldn’t love me.
and i didn’t love me either.
but i’m slowly starting to…
and i want to love all of me.

so the next time a boy wants to bring me flowers,
he has to want to love my fire too.

– butterflies rising

let’s run free under starlight – butterflies rising book memes

let’s run free under starlight – butterflies rising quote book memes

living, breathing thunderstorms in each other's arms

why would
we ever ask each other
to come out from our corners
of self-safety
and crumble down our walls
for anything that wouldn’t
be as true and deep
and beautifully wild
and as gutted open and as
raging as to be living, breathing
thunderstorms in each other’s arms,
tracing our fingers through starlight…
why would i move
when i’m this. terrified. to move.
so if you’re going to ask me
to shed away my safety
…let it be for everything beautiful
imaginable under god.