{"id":3244,"date":"2025-04-25T17:18:19","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T17:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/walkingshadowpoetry.com\/blog\/?p=3244"},"modified":"2025-04-25T17:18:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T17:18:22","slug":"before-we-call-it-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/walkingshadowpoetry.com\/blog\/before-we-call-it-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Before We Call It Love"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2013 a spoken word about the talking stage<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were not dating…
Yet I\u2019d still get butterflies when your name lit up my screen.
We weren\u2019t official…
Yet I\u2019d overthink the space between your message and mine.
No, we hadn\u2019t labeled it…
Still, you felt like home a person I could tell everything to without holding back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In truth, we were stuck in that awkward in-between,
somewhere between \u201chi\u201d and \u201cI miss you,\u201d
between \u201cwhat\u2019s your favorite color\u201d and \u201ccould I meet your mum too?\u201d
Some days it was \u201clet\u2019s take it slow,\u201d
while my heart sprinted ahead, already planning forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning, I\u2019ll admit it was exciting.
The late-night texts, the inside jokes, the voice notes that lulled me to sleep.
You\u2019d call me \u201ctrouble,\u201d
and I\u2019d laugh, calling you \u201cmy peace.\u201d
Ironically, those words aged like milk \u2014spoiled with time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As days turned into nights and nights into confusion,
I caught feelings, unknowingly, while you\u2026 you were just catching vibes.
I imagined dates,
while you needed someone to talk to when the world went quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the midst of it all, we shared dreams like they were secrets,
poured stories into each other\u2019s ears like they\u2019d never spill.
I told you about my childhood fears,
and in return, you told me about your ex
too often, too fondly.
Her name echoed louder in our talks than mine ever did.
Maybe I should\u2019ve known then.
Still, I hoped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be fair, it\u2019s not like you lied.
You were present, just not promising.
Available but never claiming.
And so I floated…
drifting in a sea of almosts and maybes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were days you said things like,
\u201cI\u2019ve never felt this safe with anyone.\u201d
And there were other days,
I\u2019d see her face on your story, your comment beneath another girl\u2019s post.
That\u2019s when the truth whispered:
I was being emotionally loyal to someone who wasn\u2019t even mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, I stayed.
Because maybe, just maybe, if I loved you quietly enough\u2026 you\u2019d hear it.
If I waited patiently enough\u2026 you\u2019d choose me.
But time revealed a hard truth:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The talking stage?
It\u2019s a trickster in disguise.
It teaches you that words without action are just illusions wearing cologne.
That a \u201cgood morning\u201d doesn\u2019t equal commitment.
That checking in doesn\u2019t mean staying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, when people asked about us,
I didn\u2019t know what to say.
We weren\u2019t dating.
Yet it hurt like heartbreak.
We weren\u2019t official.
But losing you still felt like losing a part of me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And perhaps that\u2019s what makes the talking stage so brutal,
it gives you chapters,
but never promises a book.
It\u2019s the trial version of love
that crashes just before you buy it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, in all this, I\u2019ve learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love? It should never be confusing.
Consistency is not too much to ask.
Affection should not feel like a puzzle.
And I?
I deserve more than almosts.
More than \u201clet\u2019s see where this goes.\u201d
I deserve someone who means what they say and says what they mean.
Someone who doesn’t make me second-guess my worth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, to the one who\u2019s waiting in the grey:
Don\u2019t camp in the silence between \u201cmaybe\u201d and \u201cmore.\u201d
Don\u2019t sit in the ache of \u201calmost.\u201d
You deserve to be chosen,
Not quietly.
Not eventually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But fully.
Finally.
For real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walking Shadow Poetry – Grow from what\u2019s meant to kill you.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/p\/1DN239VtWo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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