Endurance

Everyone will tell you

that you aren't enough;

you are insignificant and irrelevant-

a fat burden on the shoulders 

of those far more important;

"You ought to be grateful", they say.

But what about those dark nights

when it was your unfaltering flame

that kept their fire burning?

What about those times

when your trembling hands

held this house of cards

and kept it from crashing?

And what about the day 

when you bled copiously

so they could sleep on a bed of roses?

People forget the worth

of those who don't often announce it.

This world and this age 

have no regard for humility.

The graceful must live 

in a dark cage of silence.