The Strong One

 

photo credit: Louis Galvez/Unsplash

I am the strong one.

The one who worries and plans

For everyone else’s care.

The phone rings sounding the alarm

I hear the panic and my heart stands still.

No sacrifice too great.

I am the unofficial manager of lives

All accept my own. There’s no time 

You see for me, the strong one.

I listen, I pray standing in the gap.

I fret, lose sleep all in the name of love.

I am the one necessary element in everyone’s lives.

But I’m not.

Not needed for the joys, and thoughts

The parties and the jobs,

Not a factor until something goes wrong.

Then I am to blame

I’m expected to fix

Even if no one has really asked.

It’s my job any how

Besides, who else will do it?

Who else knows how?

I am the strong one.

The one no one calls just to say hi.

The last one content with being last.

It’s okay, really, I don’t need the concern

I freely show others.

I’m strong and that fact is my comfort.

I live an ugly truth no one can know.

Sometimes I am weak, I want to fold

But the calls don’t come.

There are times when I seek 

The ear, the shoulder that look.

No one wants to give me what I need.

But I’m the strong one

And because I am strong

I keep smiling, staying on my post.

I often wonder as I caress the nuzzle

Run my finger across the blade or

Toy with the safety cap…

…when will the call come and will 

it be

too 

late?