This piece was originally written for the Dark Poets competition III where it went on to achieve a shortlist. It’s an incredibly personal scribble, but my dark poetry is like that; I guess it’s a form of therapy. (Since then it’s been featured in a number of other publications.)

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“Hello Old Friend”

I’ve met you in hospital rooms,  
Where the air hums with the rhythm of machines,  
And the fluorescent lights paint shadows  
On walls that remember every whispered goodbye.  
You sat in the corner,  
Silent,  
Patient,  
While I tried to bargain breaths for a chance at life.

I’ve seen you in the rear view mirror,  
A flash of headlights on rain soaked roads,  
The roar of a motorcycle cutting through the night,  
Your touch like a lover’s whisper,  
Close enough to feel the chill,  
Yet distant,  
Like a promise not yet fulfilled.

We’ve danced in the space between heartbeats,  
In the pause where life hesitates,  
Waiting for the next pulse,  
The next inhale,  
The next moment that says,  
Not today.

You are the stranger at the end of the bar,  
The familiar face in the crowd,  
The one who knows my stories without words,  
Who nods in understanding,  
As if to say,  
I’ve been here before.

So when you came to my door,  
With your suitcase of silence,  
I was not afraid.  
I opened it wide,  
And welcomed you in,  
Like an old friend returning,  
After years of wandering.

We sat together,  
In a room that held memories like stars,  
In the quiet where breaths become echoes,  
And I knew,  
This was not an ending,  
But the echo of an embrace  
That had waited lifetimes to be felt.

(c)BobChristian2022

Love isn’t a highlight reel, 

Or snapshots of sunsets and brunches, 

Not the perfectly staged, ‘spontaneous’ moments  

With hashtags like #SoBlessed, #LivingMyBestLife

As if happiness can be filtered.

As if joy can be photoshopped. 

 

It’s the messy, gritty reality.  

The late-night debates 

That spiral into arguments.  

Where voices rise and hearts race.  

Two souls colliding in a storm  

Of passion and frustration. 

 

Fighting over small things,  

Like who forgot to take out the bin  

Or the way the towels were left. 

It’s in those moments, 

When tempers flare and words cut deep,  

That I feel the heat of our differences.

 

The tension that reminds me  

We are alive. We are human.  

Love is not a made-for-Disney fairytale,

It’s a battlefield

Where we lay our armour down  

To confront the truth of ourselves.

 

It’s in the silence that follows.  

That heavy air between us,  

When I realise that beneath the anger, 

The hurt, and the misunderstandings,

There’s a truth that holds us together.  

A core so solid it could withstand the fiercest storm.

 

And at my very core, in the atoms that make me, 

I truly love you, beautiful.

Not just when we’re laughing,  

But especially when the world feels heavy.  

When our perspectives clash,  

And we’re left sifting through the rubble.

 

Because that’s when we grow,  

When we dig deeper than before. 

And find the roots of our connection.

Love is not a hashtag. 

It’s a commitment to stay,  

To fight through the noise,  

 

To embrace the chaos,  

Emerging on the other side

Holding hands, hearts open,

Knowing that every argument  

Is just another step 

On this winding path we walk together. 

 

And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  

Because in the end,

It’s all part of the beautiful mess  

That is you and me.

That is our love. 

And it is ours forever.

(c)BobChristian