Thaya

“In fact she herself once blamed me
Kyprogeneia

because I prayed
this word:
I want.”
― Sappho, If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho

“the wounded child inside many males is a boy who, when he first spoke his truths, was silenced by paternal sadism, by a patriarchal world that did not want him to claim his true feelings. The wounded child inside many females is a girl who was taught from early childhood that she must become something other than herself, deny her true feelings, in order to attract and please others. When men and women punish each other for truth telling, we reinforce the notion that lies are better. To be loving we willingly hear the other’s truth, and most important, we affirm the value of truth telling. Lies may make people feel better, but they do not help them to know love.”
― bell hooks, All About Love: New Visions

“yet if you had a desire for good or beautiful things
and your tongue were not concocting some evil to say
shame would not hold down your eyes
but rather you would speak about what is just”
― Sappho, If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho

“may you sleep on the breast of your delicate friend”
― Sappho, If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho