Amount of Care (The Vegan and the Nihilist)
She measures life in leaves
in careful bites
in the quiet ethics of peas and lentils
every carrot peeled
is a small victory against suffering
her world hums with purpose
even in its fragility
He measures life in sighs
in the empty stretch of hours
in the inevitable decay of stars
every plan undone
in a tiny affirmation of nothing
his world drifts like smoke
beautiful and useless
They met in a cafe that smelled of
cinnamon and coffee
and maybe the faint despair of a Tuesday
she offered him almond milk
he asked if it even mattered
she laughed
a sound like sunlight hitting concrete
he smirked
because laughter is a meaningless
universe
is still somehow delicious
Their dates are a delicate battlefield
she insists on salad-bars and cruelty free
candy
he insists on watching reruns of
meaningless sitcoms
and debating the pointlessness of dessert
they argue over the ethics of thinking eggs
matter
sometimes they fight
just to remind themselves they feel
anything at all
at night, she whispers about empathy
about the tiny ripples of kindness in the
world
he whispers back about entropy
about the inevitability of decay and dust
yet when she falls asleep beside him
head on his chest
he counts her breathing
like it is the only thing in the universe
that refuses to vanish
They walk through parks in silence
her hand brushing the tips of leaves
his hand brushing the outline of nothing
people ask how it works
how a soul convinced nothing matters
can love a soul that believes everything
does
they just shrug and smile
because love
doesn’t need logic
love is a salad of contradictions
and sometimes, it is enough
in the morning, she feeds the birds
he feeds the silence
at night, she plans meals for the week
he plans arguments about why it doesn’t
matter
and still, between tofu and despair
between kale and cosmic indifference
they find a tender truth
that even in a world that rots and burns
even in hearts that clash like fire and ice
care exists
it is small
it is absurd
but it is not enough
to make two impossible people
keep showing up for each other
day after meaningless day
turnnoffyourmind
germansingergirl
gummygunk
blakekathryn
andulkaphoto
origamiaround
