sad poetry
The cathartic nature of poetry makes it one of the best outlets to channel feelings of sadness, emotional turmoil, grief and despair.
Broken friendship
We used to talk every single day. Not because we were forced to, but because talking to each other felt natural. Whether it was sending random memes at 2 a.m., complaining about life, or talking about dreams that probably sounded impossible, we always found something to say. Back then, I honestly thought our friendship would last forever. Funny how people can go from being part of your everyday life to becoming someone you barely recognize anymore. And the strange part is… nothing dramatic even happened. We didn’t have a huge argument. Nobody blocked anyone. Nobody said goodbye. Things just slowly changed. At first, I barely noticed it. The replies became shorter. The conversations became less frequent. The excitement slowly disappeared. “Sorry, I’m busy.” “I’ll reply later.” “I forgot.” Maybe those excuses were real. Maybe life really did get busy. But somewhere deep inside, I knew something was different. When someone truly wants to keep you in their life, they make time — even in small ways. One night, I randomly opened our old chat and started scrolling through months of conversations. There were voice notes, stupid jokes, screenshots, long late-night talks, and promises about staying friends no matter what happened. Reading those messages felt like looking at memories from another lifetime. I kept wondering when everything changed. But that’s the thing about fading friendships — there’s rarely one moment where it all falls apart. It happens slowly and quietly. A missed conversation here. A delayed reply there. A little more distance every week. Until one day, you realize you no longer know what’s happening in their life. And they no longer know what’s happening in yours. I think the hardest part wasn’t losing the friendship itself. It was realizing I had become optional to someone who once made me feel important. Watching them create new memories, new inside jokes, and new friendships while you slowly become part of their past hurts more than people admit. Friendship heartbreak is real. People talk a lot about breakups, but losing a close friend can hurt just as deeply. Sometimes even more. Friends see sides of us that nobody else does. They know our fears, our weird habits, our dreams, and the versions of us we hide from the world. So when they slowly disappear, it feels like losing a part of your own life too. For a long time, I blamed myself. Maybe I should’ve tried harder. Maybe I should’ve texted first more often. Maybe I cared too much. But eventually I understood something important: You can’t hold onto people who are slowly letting go of you. Friendships only survive when both people still choose each other. And sometimes, no matter how much history exists between two people, life still pulls them in different directions. That realization hurt. But it also helped me move on. Because not every friendship is meant to last forever. Some people are only part of one chapter of your life, even if they once felt permanent. That doesn’t mean the friendship was fake. The laughter was real. The memories were real. The comfort was real. It just didn’t last. And honestly, maybe that’s what makes certain friendships so painful to remember. Not because they were bad — but because they were once so good. Even now, sometimes I wonder if they ever think about me too. Maybe when an old song plays. Maybe when they see something I would’ve laughed at. Maybe when an old memory suddenly crosses their mind late at night. Or maybe they’ve completely moved on. Either way, life keeps going. And eventually, you stop waiting for their messages. You stop checking if they saw your story. You stop hoping their name will appear on your screen again. Little by little, the pain becomes quieter. The memories stay, but they stop hurting as much. And one day, you finally accept that some friendships don’t end with closure. They simply fade away… until two people who once meant everything to each other become strangers again.
By M Uzair Khan (UK)4 months ago in Poets
