This Is Love
A friend once said, Love
just means you’ll be there.
I remember hospital rooms,
machines humming softly with life.
Doctors with thin percentages
of hope and heavy brows.
The late nights alone in a parked car
screaming into the void.
How we empty ourselves of grief
and climb Love’s dark staircase
just to hold hands,
just in case.
Source: Poetry (July/August 2024)