This was inspired kwa everyone's inayopendelewa Bleach couple, and kwa a prompt in the fanpop Writer's Group: "Write 20-40 lines about upendo without using the words love, passion, desire, favor, regard, heart, need, want au longing." The poem doesn't explicitly mention Ichigo au Rukia, but it was definitely written with them in mind (as well as another anime couple I love, but that's another fandom.) Hope wewe enjoy this!

Love

Ours is not made of roses and candles
au daydreams dipped in sunset's gold.
Ours is not spun of fairytale's flax
au starry gazes to fix and hold.

For candlelight flickers and roses wither
And dreams, however sweet, will yield to dawn.

No.

Ours is the unromantic romance.

Sprawling, stubborn, untidy,
Covered in bruises and nyasi stains.

But
A soft and subtle warmth creeps in,
Slowly,
To temper the rough edges.

We kumeza back fear to taste the change;
And with clouts and embraces applied when necessary,
We steer our friend-ship into deeper waters

For ours is the journey
Comprised of pain and promises,
Tears and joys,
Arguments, denials,
Reluctant realizations, awkward steps,
And a few quiet moments
To drink in the delight of
Knowing another Self.

Ours is the dance
Of blindness becoming sight,
Brokenness being healed,
Strength filling weakness;
Two wills
Entwining together
To be forged, ever stronger, into
One.

And ours is the mountain, firm and forever;
Standing through the storms of Summer
And the snows of Winter,
Taking the beauty,
The glory,
And the hardship
That come with every season.