| My name is Joey, and you’re with me now
|
| I will love you forever on my own
|
| There were five trees in the garden and each was perfect; |
| green and beautiful
|
| trees surrounded all the animals and all the animals. |
| There were a hare and a
|
| rabbit who had the same favourite everything: they ate the same lettuce,
|
| they liked the same parts of the garden and they never, ever went to bed
|
| without first sorting out their arguments. |
| And while they did have arguments,
|
| they were very, very safe arguments. |
| When I say an argument can be 'safe' I
|
| refer to when the two people arguing have a prior agreement that however
|
| difficult the conversation should get and whatever silly things they might say,
|
| neither of them will run away
|
| The hare and the rabbit met under the chestnut tree. |
| While they were both quite
|
| nervous and soft mammals, they both liked making people laugh so they ended up
|
| talking all night. |
| They loved each other right away. |
| Their skills complemented
|
| each other: the hare was very good at finding tasty hay and the rabbit was
|
| excellent at distracting the other animals while they took it back to their
|
| little home
|
| It wasn’t a very good home, it was much much more like a house than a home.
|
| It was cold and draughty and sometimes all the water just ran hot.
|
| But sometimes it is possible to hide a home inside a house, and that is what
|
| the rabbit and the hare did. |
| They picked the perfect room and made it their
|
| home. |
| It was covered in blankets and pillows, and everything was in lovely
|
| bright colours. |
| In their home they were happy. |
| They were worried that the
|
| happiness they brought each other was the only happiness of its kind and so
|
| they were very careful not to lose each other. |
| Happiness can be just as scary
|
| as sadness because it is far easier to lose. |
| They tried to make up their own
|
| language but neither of them were very good at remembering the words so they
|
| just ended up speaking normally
|
| «I love you.» |
| said the hare
|
| And «I love you.» |
| said the rabbit
|
| And they really did love each other
|
| But no two people can be together forever and this was the case with the hare
|
| and the rabbit, so the rabbit said goodbye:
|
| «We don’t look alike. |
| We don’t look alike at all but our faces match exactly.
|
| I wonder why that happens. |
| We’re very different animals but sometimes seeing
|
| you feels far more familiar than a mirror. |
| I feel better for having you in my
|
| life and I want, really, to say thank you. |
| I’ve felt fear before but never like
|
| that of losing you. |
| I’ve felt loss before and thought it was painful,
|
| but I have never missed you because you have always been there.
|
| You have gone by different names like 'eyes' and 'breath' and 'heart' but you
|
| are always there. |
| And this is it I suppose. |
| We still have our health,
|
| and our hearts, though depleted, will get better again
|
| But I’ve never missed someone before they left before. |
| There’s a smell on my
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| covers that I hope never goes away. |
| There’s a stain on our duvet that I hope
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| never washes out and somewhere in a part of the world that you have to listen
|
| very closely to hear, there’s a version of us that will stay here for much
|
| longer. |
| There, forever: our hearts. |
| Our hearts in sound forever.» |