for L

Life has been unkind - yet you still stand
through unimaginable grief
through shattered lives
through a plague on your blood.
through a mind being lost.

You still stood with the unyielding weight on your shoulders alone.

Then, unsurprisingly, your love finally admitting it never was
A love that was never built on trust, or compromise
but rather solely on the fear of being alone.

You, who found strength through it all, stumbles at this, and falls
Exhausted, disillusioned, tired of the weight.

I picked you up, my truest friend, and I sit with you, waiting for the sun to raise.

Stand up, I say, Stand up!

You look at me with heavy eyes, then down again.
Your self-pity grabbing your heart and twisting,
spiraling your mind into dark corners and empty rooms
where there are bars on the window and locked iron doors

I can’t, you whisper. It’s too hard, it’s too rough.
It’s all too unbearable alone.

You have never been alone, I reminded you, anger creeping into my voice.
In your darkness you have forgotten I have traveled with you.

You, who have always been so strong for me, who have always been the voice of reason, was trapped in a maze.

And I followed – watching, waiting, hoping.

Now the end is near, and the dark is breaking.

But stand up, I shout, stand up!! Claim yourself stand up!
I can pick you up, but it is you alone that must make that final choice.

Stand up! Stand Up! Stand UP!!!

And I will walk with you.