You carry all your weight
Tightly stretched across your face
Like evidence or proof that everything aged you
I measured steady breaths
(afraid of truth, or of being rebuked)
"what horrible things cling to you?"
I did not expect to get an answer at all
Or for your to let your guard down
But either a ghost or a sigh escaped you
Your color fled, though your resistance would not be moved
You said, "when you have given so much, so little remains.
Like a wound that will never heal, all that's left is to wait"