A POEM BY R. STEPHEN
Lounging on a black leather sofa with his hands behind his head,
He stares up at the recently emulsioned ceiling,
fingers tapping restlessly on the back of his head
His legs sprawl across the chaise end as he relaxes
Across the room, the girl slouches forward from a reclining arm chair
A girl he once called his lover sits with her elbows on her knees;
hands running through her thick red curls
She stares down at the herringbone floor tiles in silence
The cooling dinner of fillet steak and new potatoes,
sits neglected beside two untouched glasses of Barolo
A large packed hard-shell suitcase sits by the door,
a small leather duffel bag sits patiently alongside
Her mascara stained eyes scan framed photographs on the wall;
beach holidays and their friends wedding they attended in the spring
Behind him, a black and white portrait of a younger couple;
she points her tongue out whilst he playfully winks at the camera
Their gazes finally meet as he looks into her bloodshot eyes
A trail of tears briefly parts the smudged eye makeup on her cheek
He tilts his head backwards once more and rests his eyes
Footsteps fade as the heavy oak door latches shut.
About This Poem
A Sombre Exchange: A Quiet Collapse of Love and Leaving
A Sombre Exchange is a slow, intimate portrait of a relationship in its final moments. Set in a beautifully detailed domestic space, the poem captures the heavy quiet that settles when two people realise they have reached the end of their shared story. Every object in the room — the untouched Barolo, the cooling fillet steak, the packed suitcase — becomes symbolic of emotional distance, resignation and the unspoken decision to walk away.
The poem’s power lies in its stillness. Two lovers sit apart, each lost in their own private reckoning, surrounded by photographs that once told a happier story. Their silence becomes the true dialogue: a conversation made of glances, tears and the soft click of a closing door.
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