What We Call Love
Love is not the majesty proclamation
we were promised.
It is smaller, stranger.
It is the way you know
which silence I need
before I ask.
The way you hand me water
after an argument,
as if saying:
we are still alive.
Love is learning
which wounds are sacred
and which can be touched.
It is choosing not to win
a fight
because winning would cost
the future.
Love may at times resemble patience.
It may even seem like departure.
Either way,
it leaves fingerprints
on everything
we become.
Abraham Aondoana is a writer and poet. He is a recipient of Idembeka Creative Writing Workshop 2026. His poem was shortlisted for Interwoven Anthology 2025 (Renard Press). His works has appeared in Kalahari Review, San Pedro River Review, Mayari Literature, Zoetic Press, Temple in a City Journal, Underbelly Press, Flowers-of-the Field Journal, Genrepunk Magazine, Eye to the Telescope Journal of speculative poetry, Soul Poetry, Prose & Arts Magazine, Hollow and Sky Magazine, Penned in Rage Journal, The Philly Chap review, Raven cage zine, Poem Alone and elsewhere.
