Still Show Up
IDENTITYRESILIENCYLOYALTY
The saddest thing about me?
It’s not the bruises buried beneath my chest
Or the tear tracks that never quite faded from the skin
It’s not that I’ve been hurt
Hell, who hasn’t?
It’s not even that people left
It’s that I’d still answer
If they called
Yeah, if someone who broke me
Split me like thunder down the spine
Texted me tomorrow asking for help
I’d reply
No hesitation
No bitterness
Just a simple,
“What do you need?”
And I hate that about me
Hate how my heart still opens
For the ones who slammed the door
And threw away the key
I’d show up
Even if they ghosted me
In the darkest chapter of my life
Even if they vanished
While I bled in silence
Fighting demons they never cared to name
Even if they chose indifference
When I was begging for anything
Anything that resembled love
I’d still show up
Not because they earned it
Not because they’ve changed
But because I haven’t
Because that’s just who I am
And maybe that’s the loneliest thing of all
To be the light in the house everyone left behind
To be the lifeboat for the ones who watched you drown
To be the steady in a world that only remembers when it’s convenient
I don’t wear armor, I wear memory
I wear kindness like it’s stitched into my DNA
Even when it burns like acid to give it out
To hands that once let me fall
But I still do
And maybe that’s not noble, maybe that’s not strength
Maybe it’s just me
Hoping that one day
Someone will see the way I love
Without condition
Without scoreboard
Without safety
And for once, they won’t run from it
They won’t take it for granted
They won’t mistake it for weakness
But until then, I’ll keep showing up
Even when it breaks me
Even when it’s thankless
Even when it feels like I’m the only one
Who never walks away
Because the saddest thing about me
Isn’t what they did
It’s that I still care
And I don’t know how to stop
