Nothing More, and Nothing Less, Than Loving a Person

Poem

I wrote the two halves of this before and after a pretty big realization about what it means to be an authentic friend and how, like everything(?) else, close friendship doesn't need to be boxed in to make sense.

​

Friendship. Hard Mode.

I could probably chalk us up
To two trauma responses
Standing on the shoulders of our people-pleasing tendencies
Wearing a trench coat

I could probably add to that the fact
That you are always so giving of yourself
So now I'm accidentally forever in your debt

You shouldn't go adopting introverts
So easily
At least not Scorpio ones
We take things more seriously than they are meant

These days I'm in a constant state of anticipation
Of what can (never) be
Like NRE
But unearned. Unreciprocated.
You don't need me

But you don't mind that I need you...

And even if all that is true
You can't just distill something down to all of its parts and say
You understand it
Naming is powerful, but we are more
Than just our pieces

We are more
Than than just our Selves
When we are together

And maybe (deep breath)
That is enough

​

Friendship. Easy Mode.

I could probably chalk us up
To two trauma responses
Standing on the shoulders of our people-pleasing tendencies
Wearing a trench coat

Who have just walked out of a black and white movie
And realized they are made of rainbows

All the gray areas at the edges of the friend box
Were actually just the magnificent curve
Between the extremes of a binary
That doesn’t even exist

The lines are so hard to unlearn…

These days I’m in a constant state of realization
You do need me
In the same way I need you
Which is to say not as a step
On the ladder of relationships

But rather as a safe space
A moment in time
That contains a thousand forevers

There is no sadness here
Because there is nothing missing
You keep giving me things, authentically,
I didn’t even know I could ask for
And it’s because of - not in spite of - our respect for our friendship

Which to me is nothing more
And nothing less
Than loving a person
Who grounds me and gives me energy at the same time
Who teaches me while still accepting me
Imperfect

​

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/w14hnw/crescendo/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/w11vwt/there_is_no_oasis/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

Posted Jul 17, 2022, 1:28 PM UTC

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1
darkwaveprince•

i can definitely relate to your realization of what it means to be a friend. i would say that i had a similar realization a few months back. reading “Friendship. Easy Mode.” evoked really beautiful memories of this past winter holiday with friends, and how much it hurt to see us all drift apart.

1