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)