To The Garden Of Us

By Preetham Halwi

My dearest Hope,

I’ve watched you,

from our very first sunrise,

to this trembling breath,

As you stand before me—

beautiful, bewildering,

like a dream in motion.

Oh, how we grew—You, the chaos to my calm,

twirling around me,

With mischief in your smile—

brushing my hair just to see me frown,

hiding my things, swapping our food,

like it was an inside joke,

The universe only told us.

You were my shield,

When monsters wore human faces,

My laughter in quiet rooms,

My storm,

and my shelter from it.

Then came the growing pains—

Your date nights, I pretended not to mind,

Your teasing glances at strangers,

The way you laughed too hard,

and forgot the nights that mattered.

Still, I held those moments close—

like petals blooming,

In the garden we never meant to plant,

But did—

With shared silences,

missed calls,

and relentless belief.

Time—

we never checked it, did we?

We let it pass,

like a breeze too sweet to chase.

And now—

You stand before me,

In a white mermaid dress,

confused, beautiful,

facing not the world,

But me.

You're not walking with me—

You're walking to me.

And that…

That is everything.

So look back, dear Hope,

Look at where we’ve come from—

From scraped knees to stolen glances,

From late-night talks to forever vows.

We are here.

We are love.

We are hope.

We are us.

In the garden we made—

The Garden of Love and Hope.

By Preetham Halwi