You are breathless, worn down, a body failing and falling
Onto the carpet-stained floor, and, as your head snaps back
Upon the ground, as you take one big gasp to refill your lungs now,
You must rise again, you must be by his side again
Because he can’t be without you.
You seek mindlessness, to shut down, and sleep one out,
Staring at three screens to drown out another day gone by of work, of
Care and no time for play, and, as your head leans back against
The silk pillowcase, as you seek to seep back into yourself at day’s end,
You see the reason, the person you’d promise always to embrace.
How can I sustain you when I can’t sustain myself?
Yet, days turn to years of loving labor and precious care
And I am still here, though with much less hair.