diff --git a/contrib/markup-in-status-messages.patch b/contrib/markup-in-status-messages.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab7e998
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/markup-in-status-messages.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+From: Ben Collerson <benc@benc.cc>
+Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2022 11:29:15 +1000
+Subject: [PATCH] markup in status messages
+MIME-Version: 1.0
+Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
+Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
+
+Allows pango markup to be used in status messages which allow colours to
+be used to highlight parts of status bar messages. eg:
+
+battery: full <span color="#ffff00">🔇0</span> Tue 11-20 20:10
+---
+ src/bar.cpp | 16 +++++++++++++++-
+ src/bar.hpp |  1 +
+ 2 files changed, 16 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
+
+diff --git a/src/bar.cpp b/src/bar.cpp
+index 507ce62..a96c547 100644
+--- a/src/bar.cpp
++++ b/src/bar.cpp
+@@ -81,6 +81,11 @@ void BarComponent::setText(const std::string& text)
+ 	pango_layout_set_text(pangoLayout.get(), _text->c_str(), _text->size());
+ }
+ 
++void BarComponent::setAttributes(PangoAttrList *attrs)
++{
++	pango_layout_set_attributes(pangoLayout.get(), attrs);
++}
++
+ Bar::Bar()
+ {
+ 	_pangoContext.reset(pango_font_map_create_context(pango_cairo_font_map_get_default()));
+@@ -156,7 +161,16 @@ void Bar::setTitle(const std::string& title)
+ }
+ void Bar::setStatus(const std::string& status)
+ {
+-	_statusCmp.setText(status);
++	char *buf;
++	GError *error = NULL;
++	PangoAttrList *attrs;
++	if (pango_parse_markup(status.c_str(), -1, 0, &attrs, &buf, NULL, &error)) {
++		_statusCmp.setText(buf);
++		_statusCmp.setAttributes(attrs);
++	}
++	else {
++		_statusCmp.setText(error->message);
++	}
+ }
+ 
+ void Bar::invalidate()
+diff --git a/src/bar.hpp b/src/bar.hpp
+index 176a1bc..dfc2043 100644
+--- a/src/bar.hpp
++++ b/src/bar.hpp
+@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ public:
+ 	explicit BarComponent(wl_unique_ptr<PangoLayout> layout);
+ 	int width() const;
+ 	void setText(const std::string& text);
++	void setAttributes(PangoAttrList *attrs);
+ 	wl_unique_ptr<PangoLayout> pangoLayout;
+ 	int x {0};
+ };
+-- 
+2.38.1
+