you are a golden thing
in this heavy, heavy world

– butterflies rising

she’s kissed by the sun and bitten by the moon

– butterflies rising

i just know…
it’s soft next to you.
it’s safe if i come close.
and there’s destiny here,
there’s meant-to-be
in your hands.
and you don’t have
to say a thing,
it’s in the way i’m shifted…
you just walk in,
and my heart beats different.

– butterflies rising

you walk in, and my heart beats different.

– butterflies rising

being the daughter of a woman who didn’t choose herself made me determined to become a woman who will.

– butterflies rising

self-love… the most delicate intimacy

– butterflies rising

i saw
one step. in the dark.
not a path.
not even two steps.
so i took just one step.
and i didn’t know if there
would be another one waiting,
but i took it anyways…
because i’m trying to have
a brave heart
even when it feels so. dark.
so with no light
and everything unknown
and not even very much hope,
i took a little step.
and then…
there was another little step.
and everything in me breathed wild relief,
not because i’m where i want to be yet…
but because there was another step.
and so now i have a little hope.
and i still don’t know what’s waiting,
and i don’t know when i’ll get to
where i pray that i’m going,
but i know that when i do… i’ll look back
and see just how much it mattered
that i took that one little step.

– butterflies rising

…to have a brave little heart even when it feels so dark

– butterflies rising

you cannot try to silence a collective pain for so long and not expect a collective rage to eventually come.

– butterflies rising

love will always outnumber, overshadow and overcome.

– butterflies rising

that moment right before something wild
and beautiful is about to happen…

it’s why that girl loves a drop… you get pulled into
that moment that holds your breath, and then the music
takes you over like you’re high on soul-driven adrenaline /
and that feeling right before a kiss… there’s that universe
that only the two of you exist in… and then the kiss takes
over your whole body like some kind of love-flavored
mescaline / it’s the let-go before the give-in / the suspension
before the collision / when we hand our head over to our
heart and let something made of magic find its way in

…she likes the way that feels… that moment right before
something wild and beautiful is about to happen.

– butterflies rising

poetry is my scripture,
music is my gospel,
empathy and kindness are my witness,
creativity and love are my worship

– butterflies rising

the way she looks at him… as if his smile is the only thing that could possibly matter

– butterflies rising

the way he looks at him…
as if his smile is the only thing
that could possibly matter

– butterflies rising

the way she looks at her…
as if her smile is the only thing
that could possibly matter

– butterflies rising

the way he looks at her…
as if her smile is the only thing
that could possibly matter

– butterflies rising

your heart tells you big things in little ways

– butterflies rising

please quiet the noise in my head so i can hear the voice in my heart

– butterflies rising

she’s always been searching for some way to escape gravity

– butterflies rising

i can’t stay too human for too long… it’s too heavy.

– butterflies rising

there’s always been an ache in your back that has felt something like wings… something inside of you has always been trying to carry you.

– butterflies rising

something like wings…

the wild in your heart, those flowers in your chest, and that fire in your blood

– butterflies rising

something like wings…

through all the
layers of dark and unsure
that wild in your heart
and those flowers in your chest
and the fire in your blood
and that feeling that you’re going
to break. free. some. how.
have stirred within you
in spite of everything that has
tried to weigh heavy on your soul.
there’s always been an ache in your
back that has felt something like wings…
something inside of you has always
been trying to carry you.

– butterflies rising

something inside of you has always been trying to carry you.

– butterflies rising

let your head quiet, go where your heart sways

– butterflies rising

like a butterfly, her wings unfolded

– butterflies rising

meet me in that place
where our souls ache to wander
and a million stars will unfold around us
and i’ll look at you and wonder
how we ever lived in anything
less breathtaking
than this

– butterflies rising

we crave a soul-stirring love and we chase that soul-stirring life

– butterflies rising

there is too much fire and passion and magic and art and love in you for you to not let it all be who and what you are.

– butterflies rising

there is too much good in you
for you to not let goodness be who
and what you are…

and there is too. much. beautiful in you
for you to not let beautiful be who
and what you are…

and there is too much fire and passion
and magic and art and love in you
for you to not let it all be who
and what you are.

– butterflies rising

there is too much beautiful in you for you to not let beautiful be who and what you are

– butterflies rising

and you ask me…
how will i know it’s him
when he comes along?
i’ll know it’s him
by the way he walks in
wearing respect like a nice suit
and holding that
take. it. slow. magic.
with his self-love, self-required,
just radiating liberation from old men’s tales,
and because…
before he lets me love him…
it will matter that i love myself.

– butterflies rising

…it’s in the way he walks in wearing respect like a nice suit

– butterflies rising

meet me where we can lose ourselves in the wild and feel it all… burn and breathe at once in our skin. out of our lungs. pouring the aches from our chests, with our wings wide open.

– butterflies rising

maybe tonight
we just dissolve into the stars…
leaving gravity behind,
quieting our heads and trading
all our dreams and curiosities
between soul and skin.
i just. get. restless.
and i can’t stay too human
for too long… it’s too heavy.
i need to leave the atmosphere,
or pull your soul aesthetic closer;
close enough to taste moon dust
in the back of my throat.
and whether we actually transcend
or just lose all sense…
i don’t care.
let’s break open and
scatter and spill and spill…
our wild universes
colliding under these stars.

– butterflies rising

and maybe tonight we just dissolve into stars… leaving gravity behind, quieting our heads, and trading all our dreams and curiosities between soul and skin

– butterflies rising

go where you breathe free.

– butterflies rising

…our wild universes colliding under these stars

– butterflies rising

…that late night drive, make me a mixtape,
talk till 3am and stay up too late,
kind of love.

– butterflies rising

she needs love like wildfire.
like forever-fire. until every last
southern sun sets. till the stars burn out.
and to know her heart is finally safe…
with you.

– butterflies rising

Ways To Break This Southern Girl’s Heart
after Diane Lato’s “Easy Ways To Break My Heart”

– give her unsweetened tea. there are no two more terrible words to a southern girl when put together

– tell her you’re an alabama fan. you’ve gotta know that she’s gonna bleed volunteer orange ‘til the end no matter

– tell her you don’t like the mountains. her heart has east tennessee sunrises imprinted on it… and she wants to show you every sunlit, treelined, starkissed view

– turn down the volume when ‘country girl’ by ray lamontagne comes on. papa used to play it for her on the porch, and she’s gotta hear every bit of it, every time

– you wanna really crush her heart? then ask to meet her daddy. because he isn’t in her heart anymore. he was the first one who broke it, and in too many ways, long ago

– and if you wanna just completely shatter her into pieces… then try to give her an ordinary love. because she needs love like wildfire. like forever-fire. until every last southern sun sets. till the stars burn out. and to know her heart is finally safe… with you

…she needs to know that breaking her heart is the very last thing you would ever want to do.

– butterflies rising

the sunkissed ones, they leave a sweetness with you that changes the air you breathe forever

– butterflies rising

take me where everything is soft and wild… give me love like flowers and fire.

– butterflies rising

let’s go where everything is soft and wild… give me love like flowers and fire.

– butterflies rising

this is my heart,
so if i give it to you…
take it where a heart can race
and a soul can run free,
but still be held… close.
where wild is a love language,
but trust is still a sure thing,
and vulnerable a feeling we know,
but fire a flavor we taste when we kiss
and passion something that burns
in us and all around us… i wanna
feel chills run through me with
just. a finger touch.
when you look at me…
it’s like i lose my senses and find
my way home, all at once.
so take me with you…
let’s go where everything is soft and wild;
give me love like flowers and fire.

– butterflies rising

let’s run free under starlight

– butterflies rising

let’s run free under starlight… restless for our dreams and full of wild defiance

– butterflies rising

fire and wild and art and love and sugar and soul.

– butterflies rising

…a heart that changes shape when something moves you

– butterflies rising

passion.
and vulnerability.
fire and wild and art and love
and sugar and soul.
a pull towards the stars;
an ache to be more free…
to feel. so. alive.
with a need to feel things deeper
and sweeter and closer,
and a heart that changes shape
when something moves you.
it’s all so beautiful.
so let go of the ways this
world says you’re supposed to be
and feel all of the ways
that your soul is.

– butterflies rising

give me love that takes me wayward, off beaten paths and down country roads… let’s stargaze

– butterflies rising

…the way a southern girl says her vowels, like the words are dipped in honey butter.

– butterflies rising

she’s made up of sweet tea and poetry

– butterflies rising

she’s made up
of sweet tea and poetry

– country girl

– butterflies rising

burn out the stars with me

– butterflies rising

keep chasing all that sweet and wild rebellion in you.

– butterflies rising

when i love,
it’s the littlest things
about someone that can
make a complete
mess of me…

details,
i love madly in
details.

– butterflies rising

Road Trip…

just give me
your young, wild heart,
and i’ll give you
my young, wild heart,
and we’ll light up every city and
burn through every town
with how it feels

– butterflies rising

contact high…

i just wanna spend forever
getting high off what it feels like
to be around you

– butterflies rising

i want…
to search. and stretch.
and grow. and glow.
and drip myself in
wild creativity,
and burn and breathe at once
in this skin. in these lungs.
wings untethered,
under the moon,
into the sky,
and to dream big and bigger
and biggest,
and to feel free in here…
inside my anxious chest.
to just. feel. free.
and to have the universe
say… yes, you are worthy of all this.

– butterflies rising

let’s lose ourselves
in wild creativity and glow.
and burn and breathe at once in our skin.
out of our lungs.
pouring the aches from our chests.
with our wings wide open.

– butterflies rising

let’s lose ourselves in wild creativity

– butterflies rising

i want to drip myself in wild creativity and glow

– butterflies rising

that thing we do as a defense when we’re scared of losing something is often why we end up losing things

– butterflies rising

what if only,
when you feel
her reaching for you,
you could reach too.
maybe go a little higher.
just let yourself stretch.
and let your heart grow.
what if only,
instead of pulling away,
instead of trying to pull her down,
you could just go a little higher.
you could let her fire be bright.
and you could let your fear be small.
what if only
you could let the way you see
yourself be stretched…
you could let your whole. soul. grow.
i know you wonder what it could be like…
if maybe it’s beautiful there.
so what if only…

– butterflies rising

i forgive you… for treating me the way you felt about yourself

– butterflies rising

she wanders
out in the flowers,
in the wild, where the breathing
is easy and free… because it’s where
the judgment goes quiet…
and everything beautiful is so untouched.
it’s just beautiful. and wild. and fearless.
and whether it grows into something more
or burns down and has to start again,
it just does… fearlessly.
beautifully. and wild.
so she wanders out where she
can learn to see herself that way;
to see herself in the way that she looks
at flowers… like she’s a beautiful
wildness on fire.

– butterflies rising

she’s a beautiful wildness on fire

– butterflies rising

your standards for love are going to make some
people uncomfortable. and they will try to make
you feel like those standards are too high.

i think it’s because those standards threaten
their comfort zones.

what you believe in either challenges how they treat
people… or how they’ve accepted being treated.

but none of that is about you.
this is your own life. and it will be your own love
and your own heart. so don’t ever let anyone make
you question your own standards…
keep them high.

– butterflies rising

she makes life poetry… she turns every bit of it into art.

– butterflies rising

her,
because she
makes life poetry,
she turns every bit
of it into art

– butterflies rising

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

she gets wild with the moon and restless

– butterflies rising

under the sun
is where her flowers bloom,
under the moon
is where her fires burn,
out in the wild
is where her spirit breathes…
she’s meant to be wild,
so beautifully wild.

– butterflies rising

some people are just light, glow, hope… human stars.

– butterflies rising

Moonglow…

where the light falls,
and the beautiful stays,
when the stars settle in…
come with me.

– butterflies rising

my restlessness is running wild again, and the peace always feels like you

– butterflies rising

break free with me.
touch stars with me.
lose time with me.

– butterflies rising

i’m restless
and wild again,
and all i wanna do
is get lost with you…
i’m on edge in my skin
and the stillness feels loud
and slowing it all down isn’t going
to calm this wildfire heart…
i want to chase where it’s racing to
and follow what it’s aching for,
so take me somewhere beautiful
and show me something breathtaking;
let’s go somewhere with less gravity…
break free with me.
touch stars with me.
lose time with me…
because this restlessness is running wild again,
but the peace always feels like you.

– butterflies rising

what if the
raging inside of you
is something beautiful…
your curiosity stretching
and your soul stirring…
all that wildflower energy in your veins.
and the ache is everything you’ve suffocated
for so long just trying to find some way to breathe.
and when it feels like you’re burning it all down,
you’re just still learning how to burn bright.
maybe you go a little wayward
and get a little reckless,
but be easy on your restless heart;
have a little grace with your fire…
you’re a wild butterfly finding your way,
just a girl growing wings.

– butterflies rising

…all that wildflower energy in your veins

– butterflies rising

what if the raging inside of you is something beautiful… your curiosity stretching and your soul stirring

– butterflies rising

i want to melt into you like wild honey, you feel like summer sun

– butterflies rising

she’s a wild butterfly finding her way

– butterflies rising

she’s a wild butterfly finding her way… just a girl growing wings.

– butterflies rising

how beautiful it feels when they want to know all about the worlds you hold inside of you

– butterflies rising

searching for a way to say “I need me” and “I want you”… all in the same breath.

– butterflies rising

let the
wonder and beauty
of your existence
fall out of you
everywhere, unafraid
no matter who may take it in
or hold it with care
let it all be
unshaken by the cold

– butterflies rising

…the way we passionately love someone else should be a way we could love ourselves, too.

– butterflies rising

she needs to become who she needs to be for herself before she can ever be anything for you.

– butterflies rising

beautiful…
the way you say it,
how it feels. too. good.
like quenching thirst on my skin.
how i feel too desperate to hear it…
but how i can’t let it stay because
i’m too unsure to hold it.
so please…
don’t say it.
i want to have heard it enough in
my own voice that i don’t need you to say it…
but, also… so that when you do…
i can let it fall on me without a fight

…let me fall madly for me first.

– butterflies rising

let me learn how to hold my own fire before you ask my heart to catch fire for you.

– butterflies rising

there’s this
beating in my heart,
and it sounds like you.
and this ache. in. my. chest…
it feels like you.

– butterflies rising

i’m restless and wild again… and all i wanna do is get lost with you.

– butterflies rising

and maybe,
sometimes i back up
just a little,
just to breathe…
to steady in me.
and maybe, sometimes,
my fingers will untangle
just a little,
just to feel…
how to be mine, all mine.
and maybe,
i can get a little reckless
when my heart is restless,
but it’s still always yours,
all yours.

– butterflies rising

…a heart full of mess and madness

– butterflies rising

my safe space…
is in the wild open.
where there’s growing space
and soul-searching space,
and where my fire is bright,
and my wings are wide,
and my breathing is all its own…
and where i can always feel the way
my heart beats on its own.

– butterflies rising

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.

– butterflies rising

why else love if not to feel stars exploding in our veins

– butterflies rising

when i get close,
and when i let walls fall…
i become a wild mess. and i get fully disarmed.
i just wildflower open… soft. vulnerable.
and i become such an easy mark for the way that forever is
such a pretty word off the corner of your smile… and god,
how it feels like the sweetest. thing.
and i swear it… that stars shine brighter,
and skin feels even softer, and songs sink in a little deeper,
and the words are the sweetest. sugar.
and they mean ten times, a hundred times, all the times more…
and i feel it all like lightning and soul-imprint in my marrow.
and it’s beautiful. and it’s terrifying.
because my safe space… is in the wild open…
where there’s growing space and soul-searching space,
and where my fire is bright, and my wings are wide,
and my breathing is all its own, and where i can always
feel the way my heart beats on its own…
with me over here. and you over there.
and i don’t know if my heart will ever settle it…
the way everything is more beautiful when i’m in love,
but i feel so much stronger when i’m not.

– butterflies rising

details, i love madly in details

– butterflies rising

why else are we here if not to live with unreasonable passion for things

– butterflies rising

everything is more beautiful when i’m in love… but i feel so much stronger when i’m not.

– butterflies rising

there is nothing about the way another woman unfolds into her own space that takes away from the way you can unfold into yours. you don’t need to try to dim any other woman’s brightness or put out any other woman’s fire; you only need to look inside and light up your own.

– butterflies rising

just take me somewhere beautiful and show me something breathtaking… let’s go somewhere with less gravity. break free with me. touch stars with me. lose time with me…

– butterflies rising

playlist in the background, stars outside the windows… let’s just drive.

– butterflies rising

i’m here… wanting
to know the shape of you,
without having to lose my own.
but just not yet knowing how…

how to take you in, but keep me too.

how to breathe love and
wholeness all at once.

– butterflies rising

…let me fall madly for me first

– butterflies rising

from over here,
love looks so sweet.
but… so. terrifying.
because i don’t yet know how.
how to be so close to someone and not
crumble into a wild mess of love
where i lose me.
the last time i got close…
my god, how i lost me.
so much that i could barely feel me. or hear me.
and it’s the deepest ache i’ve ever known
when i can’t feel me.
so i’m still learning… how not to dim
and quiet and run and hide and tame me.
how to hold my own fire even when
my heart catches fire.
how to hold on so tight to my own depths
that even when i’m tangled deep in you…
i’m still always mine…

and i’m still learning how to be mine.

– butterflies rising

i’m still learning how to be mine.

– butterflies rising

…slow kisses on wild skin

– butterflies rising

eye contact and a lip bite

– butterflies rising

…destiny in those wild eyes

– butterflies rising

self-love… the most delicate intimacy

– butterflies rising

the world is loud
and i wanna get lost…
with you.
so let’s just go anywhere.
any miles an hour.
nothing but highway lines
with your hand on my legs
and a slow. kiss.
on your neck
and our racing hearts
so deep in this messy love
and the destination;
wherever wild runs…
playlist in the background,
stars outside the windows,
let’s just drive.

– butterflies rising

…i can get a little reckless when my heart is restless

– butterflies rising

a soft lover… and a wild wanderer

– butterflies rising

just a girl growing wings

– butterflies rising

she’s a wildflower on fire

– butterflies rising

let me
wander with
the ones who are
tangled in stars
and tethered
to promise

– dreamers

– butterflies rising

she’s a
wildflower on fire
with all that
sweet soul sugar
making your heart. beat.
and your skin cells rise,
she’s wild butterflies,
and the way she looks at you
under a wild moon
making your pulse move,
her beautiful chaos
asking you to dig deep
into that passion in your bones
and bleed out all those beautiful things
that your own wildfires hold.

– butterflies rising

she’s a
wildflower on fire
with all that sweet soul sugar
and an ache inside to unfold
and to grow into so much more,
all that destiny written in her eyes,
she’s wild butterflies,
and she feels her heart pulled
under the wild of the moon to face her fears
and to find her way through all of the dark
and the heavy that she’s carried for so long…
there’s fight here,
but there’s surrender here too.
and there could be so much freedom here
if she could just let herself fall into that
beautiful chaos and dig deep into
that passion in her bones…
she could uncover all the beautiful things
that those wildfires inside of her hold.

– butterflies rising

you give me butterflies and adrenaline highs

– butterflies rising

she’s beautiful chaos and wild butterflies

– butterflies rising

she’s got all that wildflower energy in her veins – butterflies rising quote and poem

– butterflies rising

you are like golden hour, it all glows different when you’re here

– butterflies rising

i just like how it feels when you’re here,
and maybe that’s all i know

– butterflies rising

her fire is drawn to your fire

– butterflies rising

if i do but one thing today,
may i be human sunshine
for someone

– butterflies rising

patience with how your heart wanders…
you will find your way.

– butterflies rising