You love the way she knows your edges,

Taking the time to memorize beautiful scars.

You love the way she feels like butter,

And speaks with a voice that wraps you in feathers.

You love the way she’s never lost,

Always making her way to your ocean of blue sheets at night.

My question is,

Can you love her when her voice has the strength of a thousand women,

No longer whispering sweet sugar, but strong opinions?

Can you love her when she is no longer sitting, waiting, on your bed,

She is now 7 feet tall, standing with resilience?

Can you love her when she doesn't bashfully look away from an argument,

But challenges your love for her by flexing her self-respect?

Can you love her when her she’s not a flower in the room,

But demands the attention of a crowd with the feminine power in her eyes?

Can you love her when she no longer needs you like water in a desert,

But learns to satisfy her thirst with red wine and Rupi Kaur?

Because, “What is stronger than the human heart which shatters over and over and still lives?”

A girl who learned that men love to watch the flowers bloom

but pick them when they become too beautiful.

A girl who learned that a woman waters herself, tenderly and protectively.

A girl who learned her body is a home and that men will tread lightly, touching with permission.

A girl who now knows flowers don’t survive in this world, but women who have a voice that stands like a waterspout on the ocean.

That girl has become a woman whose breath is strong enough to shatter a man where he stands.

So, you think you can you love a strong woman?