Sometimes the spark is loud,
all teeth and gravity,
a body leaning toward another body
like it’s finally remembered its purpose.
Sometimes chemistry is just the language of heat—
how quickly you burn,
how easily you mistake fire
for warmth.
Compatibility is quieter.
It lives in the pauses.
In the way someone asks your name again
even though they already know it,
just to hear how you say it.
In how they stay
when there’s nothing to impress.
Chemistry will make you believe in maybes.
It will dress potential up like destiny
and ask you to be patient with neglect,
to romanticize almost,
to call hunger passion.
But reality has a weight to it.
It shows up as unanswered needs,
as conversations that never deepen,
as love that only exists
when it’s convenient.
There comes a moment
soft but unforgiving
when you realize you’ve been loving the idea
of who they could be,
while they keep showing you
exactly who they are.
And that is the grief.
Not that it didn’t work,
but that you stayed,
hoping chemistry would learn
how to hold you.
Jan 23
Jan 23, 2026 at 8:26 PM UTC
Sometimes the spark is loud,
all teeth and gravity,
a body leaning toward another body
like it’s finally remembered its purpose.
Sometimes chemistry is just the language of heat—
how quickly you burn,
how easily you mistake fire
for warmth.
Compatibility is quieter.
It lives in the pauses.
In the way someone asks your name again
even though they already know it,
just to hear how you say it.
In how they stay
when there’s nothing to impress.
Chemistry will make you believe in maybes.
It will dress potential up like destiny
and ask you to be patient with neglect,
to romanticize almost,
to call hunger passion.
But reality has a weight to it.
It shows up as unanswered needs,
as conversations that never deepen,
as love that only exists
when it’s convenient.
There comes a moment
soft but unforgiving
when you realize you’ve been loving the idea
of who they could be,
while they keep showing you
exactly who they are.
And that is the grief.
Not that it didn’t work,
but that you stayed,
hoping chemistry would learn
how to hold you.
