Tag: beauty

Ānanda

Téa NicolaeLeave a comment

i allow myself
to feel joy,
peeling carrots
with my grandmother,
stroking my nose
against my doe rabbit’s

i allow myself
to feel beauty,
adorning my neck
with rose quartz necklaces,
gazing at the night sky
sliding itself into dawn

i allow myself
to feel stillness,
laying my naked skin
in fresh lavender sheets,
placing hands on my belly,
counting eleven deep breaths

i allow myself
to feel grief,
embellishing my knees
with tears, planting kisses
on the blisters
that bejewel my skin

i allow myself
to twinkle alive,
tulle pressed
to my damp thighs,
dancing with my
hands above my head

i
allow
life
to flow
through
me

🌷 poem from my poetry collection, “songs of youth”, the “at last, light: of joy” chapter. available on amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/0duef5g.

i breathe, i accept my grief by téa nicolae | songs of youth

Téa NicolaeLeave a comment

i wake up at dawn
and i find happiness
in slicing an apple
and munching on it


𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦
𝘪 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘧


i find beauty
in standing barefoot in the middle of the kitchen,
feeling breadcrumbs stick
to my pinky toe
𝘪 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦
𝘪 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘧
i learn there is joy in cutting tomatoes,
in making a bowl of soup,
in having my stomach full


𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦
𝘪 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘧


i uncover the childish glee of
having the tip of my tongue burnt
and gratitude runs between my fingers like water
being alive is warm
there is kindness
in tuning in
and


𝘪 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦
𝘪 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵
𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘧. ☼


from “at last, light: of joy”, the third section of my “songs of youth”. 🌻
{amazon u.k.: https://amzn.eu/d/0duef5g}

originally published in scan journal.

iele and strigoi magic

Téa NicolaeLeave a comment

this summer, i had the opportunity to present my beautiful homecountry to two dear friends of mine, and, in this process, to myself experience romania with freshness and openness, and rediscover its magic.

romanian folklore is so incredibly rich, and it has been so profound to experience the stories of mystery and magic that i grew up with in the heart of Transylvania this summer. ielele are my favourite mythical beings from our folklore and i’ve been mesmerised by them since childhood; they are female mythical creatures who dance in forests naked, disheveled, with bells on their ankles, and carrying candles. their dance maddens those who encounter them and the earth on which they dance becomes scorched by the heat dripping from their feet. in the dead of the night, remnants of the tingle of their tunes resound in the forests – heard by those who brave their hearts to listen… 😊

i had a strained connection with my homecountry for a long time, having remained blind to much of its beauty out of my own contractions and feelings of inadequacy emergent from absorbing limited beliefs about my nationality that are sometimes propagated in western europe. however, in the past years i’ve been falling more & more in love: i’ve been falling in love with how alive bucharest comes at night, with how delicious it is to walk with my friends on the streets we used to stumble on our wild escapades in high school, with how melodious our language & music are, with treading the journey from universitate to my place to clear my mind & connect to myself, with how hearty our traditional food is, how mystical and complex the folklore is, how vast and abundant the mountains and forests are – with how there was never a moment in which i was in need in which i did not encounter kindness.

so healing, to let go & see how beautiful it all was, all along.

mândră că-s româncă! ✌️

p.s. how cool was our accommodation in predeal? they’re called the palo cabins and the hosts are truly lovely people. would highly recommend!

to live, to cry a little, to bring a touch of beauty

Téa NicolaeLeave a comment

the last few days have been tender, and last night i was happy to reconnect with a friend from university whom i studied film with. we exchanged kind words as well as poetry. after we both shared that we warmed each other’s hearts, i found myself thinking how much i treasure these brief moments of connection, yet how i often don’t enjoy them fully because i generally am so immersed in my mind palace and narratives, so overly focused on my insecurities, internal drama or questions of right and wrong that the beauty of life passes me by. i mentally noted a line i could have seen in a poem, ‘to bring and receive a little beauty to and from others is enough’, and i scribbled this quick poem this afternoon. 💗

to live
to cry a little
to bring a touch of beauty to others
to keep my heart soft even when i’m scared
to feel my childhood’s wounds with tenderness
to share my mind with fullness
to come to understand the world with my fingertips
what else is there

maybe i’m alright as i am