Written in 2026 – Hearts Still Care

Go

As I grow older,
The heart grows colder:
The friends from my past
Did not really last.

The flames of youth
Are rendered moot.
Against bitter time,
I do not whine.

If as I grow,
I get to know
Everything dies,
I harbour no lies.

Death chips my heart,
Part by stony part;
And each sharp blow
Teaches to let go.

I have learnt well,
Walking through Hell,
That heaven is the same
With a different name.

And as grief goes,
With each smile,
I must let anger go
In the same style.

When they first come into your bed,
Your fear is suspended,
By the way they look at you.
Like the flaws you see
Are invisible to them.

They want to touch you;
Feed off you;
Hold you and sway you
To the rhythm of their bodies.
You feel seen.
You make love.

Time changes that –
That look that drifts into routine
Is a result of repetition.
Here, practice makes boredom;
Perfection is boring.

So you once again look in the mirror
And see what you should not have missed,
All this time.
The mirror hasn’t changed.

I wonder what Zuri must feel,
As she looks at your bed;
Pauses briefly –
Then walks on ahead.

Do dogs sense absence,
Know loss, feel grief?
For sure, when I come home,
She softens in relief.

So does your scent linger,
After a fortnight of loss?
It must…or am I just
Displacing remorse?

She moves more quietly now.
Yet her love is clear:
It doesn’t understand space –
Dead, alive, there, here.

My eyes well up less now,
Though the heart still kneels;
Longing lives on in Zuri;
Through her, my heart feels.