The Happiest Couple You Will Ever See

Uncut Poetry

I think if we did a dipstick survey of happy couples, we'd find an overwhelming number who aren't. No surprises. Nobody ever knows what happens behind closed doors. Hurts run deep like rivers which cut through ancient rocks, till you can only see the sunrises above them and not the deep gorges they've created. Our primitive instincts call out to us to conjoin, cohabit. But nature also gives us the complex tapestry of emotions, often irreconcilable, with the uncanny ability to bruise. And the scars we get reduce us as human beings, because what is revealed is our worst selves, more often than not as enforced derivatives, and not reflections of what we truly are. I'm convinced that some of the terrible things we do, do not always arise out of vestigial truths, but are generated afresh as weaponry against unprovoked attacks. Simply said - there are some people who have the unerring ability to take the worst out of us - a side we don't even know exists. But we are magnificent, because we are humans. We forbear, we camouflage, we often forgive. There's something called the big picture, and in its altar, we also find our best selves. We survive the worst of coupledom, the anarchy often wrought on us, because something inside stands up for us, as an instinct to be more than a merely reactive beast. In a world of iniquitous battles, we are our own flag-bearers, our national song, our moral compass, our survival guide. If you liked this poem, consider listening to these other poems on the difficulties in relationships -

• That Ordinary Lie
• Before Bruises Become Wounds
• Love's Night of the Long Knives

Follow me on Instagram at @sunilgivesup.

Get in touch with me on [e-mail] The details of the music used in this episode are as follows - Medieval Tabletop Session by Sascha Ende