An Ode to friendship in women.

There is a special type of magic laced in the love between friends, my heart five pounds heavier in the company of my own. Only one ring away from all the right people at all the right times. Silent pacts sealed in shared bathroom stalls and the warmth of living room lights. The simple intimacy of knowing and being known in a way that the mirror cannot see. A type of togetherness that stitches the sadness right out of your twenties, a sacred space in their arms that loneliness goes to die. ThereÔÇÖs a forever valentine promised here, a special type of love.

Words by Gabriella Sanders

IÔÇÖm Sorry.

IÔÇÖm sorry I couldnÔÇÖt love you in the way you loved me.

IÔÇÖm sorry I couldnÔÇÖt say what you needed to hear.

IÔÇÖm sorry I walked away when you chose to stay.

IÔÇÖm sorry my feelings changed when yours stayed the same.

Thank you for showing me what it feels like to be loved.

But to love you, I need to love me first.

And loving myself is a masterpiece in the making.

IÔÇÖm sorry.

I loved you first and will love you always.

Words by Jess Margetson

To my sisters, the ones who know me better than anyone else. You knew before I did that I was a tea drinker, a cheese enthusiast, a book fanatic. You know which pieces of jewellery IÔÇÖll like, which cinema releases I will beg you to wait for me to watch and which weekend trips IÔÇÖm planning to ask you to go on. The ones who could order the perfect dish for me in any restaurant and pick out my ideal partner from a crowd. It is because of you three that I really know what love is. Happy Valentines.

Words by Molly Pickles

Face of Innocence

In some Obscene world,

There is a God,

or a Being

to believe in,

who,

allows you to speak to the animals.

Not as their saviour,

But as some innocence

stood in the grass,

flittering in your presence;

morning dew

Seeping along each strand,

and reflected in the boyish glint in your eyes.

Gentle,

only that which I ever found

in the colour brown,

but I now find in blue.

Forgiving and unknowing,

unlike man,

who,

with his calloused hands,

and hard bones;

fresh blood

and loose tongue,

puts salt into the sea.

Yet you,

his small opposite,

with feathered hair

and peppered skin;

soft ears and

flushed cheeks,

hold salt in your tears.

Words by Anushka Kar