Get Your Premium Membership

A Soliloquy of Unrequited Love

Written on April 13th 2025 for Sara Jama's Prompt The Cold Embrace of Death Reverberated within the empty chambers of my soul, As I soak my skin in a clawfoot tub, drowning in my sorrows. Daring the waves to wash me away, I lay barricaded in the bathroom with a bottle of Merlot. Dismembered voices and I shared a night of haunting memories, As suppressed trauma resurfaces, My life flashes before my very eye, Murmurs of a soft lament of what could have been. At that moment, I was drunk with clarity, As I swashed the bottle swirling, a whirlpool of emotions. The red-stained taste of tomorrow’s regret coated my lips; In this state and plane of existence, my ghosts and I find solace In our shared suffering. I ask the Lord for respite from the unyielding ache Of unrequited love, Lying in stillness, for I am but a cast of your shadow, Like a wilting deadly nightshade. Breathless without rays of love to quell me, Forgotten upon a dusty shelf, Hexed by Eros’s wayward lovelorn arrow, Left to wander this plain perplexed. Pondering if you were both in cahoots, All the while, the unbearable ache of my burgundy beating chambers Spills into the tub. Then slowly, I sip, I drip, I slip, Into, The cold embrace of death.

Copyright © | Year Posted 2025




Post Comments

Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.

Please Login to post a comment

Date: 4/18/2025 10:11:00 AM
Being drunk with clarity is a bitter poison to have swallowed, Billie. The taste of tomorrow's regrets is one of my favorite lines in your telling of unrequited love. Congratulations on your winning write.
Login to Reply
Jama Avatar
Billie Jama
Date: 4/20/2025 12:33:00 AM
Thank you as always Lin. I appreciate your feedback and support. I'm very honoured to be placed amongst the winners
Date: 4/18/2025 8:46:00 AM
Dear Billie, first, I adore the title of your outstanding poem. Second, I adore the intense, bleak imagery and clever use of language in your dark poem of exquisite pain. I was struck by "drunk with clarity" - love the jux and "swashed the bottle swirling, a whirlpool" - love the alliteration and subtle internal rhyme and the eerie foreshadowing verse "red-stained taste of tomorrow’s regret coated my lips" - poignant! The last stanza is a beautifully morbid, emotionally captivating, lonesome finale. Unrequited love can be a deadly b***h for sure! Congratulations for your success in Sara's contest. Well-deserved! Warmest wishes.. ~Susan
Login to Reply
Jama Avatar
Billie Jama
Date: 4/19/2025 12:50:00 PM
Oh thank you deeply for the lovely feedback. I'm so glad that you enjoyed my poem and title
Date: 4/16/2025 6:06:00 AM
Congratulations on placing in my contest. I love the dark despair you portray in this piece. There are so mamy amazing lines. "Hexed by Eros’s wayward lovelorn arrow, Left to wander this plain perplexed.," no words absolutely brillant. From your strong beginning to hopeless ending. Just love.
Login to Reply
Jama Avatar
Billie Jama
Date: 4/16/2025 6:51:00 AM
Thank you for the feedback. I am thrilled with my placement.
Date: 4/15/2025 9:06:00 AM
Wonderful, painful, congratulations
Login to Reply
Jama Avatar
Billie Jama
Date: 4/15/2025 2:16:00 PM
Thank you kindly Terry
Date: 4/15/2025 3:42:00 AM
How sad that the Merlot took over, I pray this is fiction, it is so well written, and it flows like rich wine, pun intended. Congrats on your win, this is awesome to read dear Billie
Login to Reply
Jama Avatar
Billie Jama
Date: 4/15/2025 5:09:00 AM
I really appreciate your kind words. Just to clarify — yes, the piece is purely fictional (thankfully, I’m still very much here unlike the character!). I used Merlot as a visual representation of the color red, blending it with crimson to intensify the mood. I wrote it in this style because my wife is a true lover of the macabre, and I wanted to evoke something that would speak to that dark, haunting beauty. It is sad that the Merlot "took over," but again — all fiction.
Date: 4/14/2025 11:35:00 AM
Gosh, this is so painful and i can feel the aching emotions flowing throughout and the ending is so sad and haunting! I wish no one would feel that emptiness and that unshakable pain that is so overwhelming! Youv expressed so well here in such a seamless and heart touching manner! I especially felt the lines “ I ask the Lord for respite from the unyielding ache Of unrequited love, Lying in stillness, for I am but a cast of your shadow, Like a wilting deadly nightshade.” Love the word choices and flow of your poem! Pleasure reading you sis! Congratulations on your top win! You beat me! Ah! Well done! Sending you light always
Login to Reply
Jama Avatar
Billie Jama
Date: 4/15/2025 4:59:00 AM
Thank you so much, sis. I’m so glad the emotions resonated with you — that depth of feeling is exactly what I hoped to capture. And hey, your piece was stunning too. Its always an honor to be alongside writers like you. Sending you love and light right back, always

Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry