Just survival

they ask how you are,

but not how I am—

as if your fire

never scorched

the hands

that held you.

I carry you

because I love you.

I stay

because I care.

but some days,

I am tired too—

quietly drowning

with a smile on my face.

they don't see

the nights I lie awake,

listening for your breath.

the mornings

I pour from an empty cup

and call it grace.

you are fighting demons—

I know,

I see them too.

but I fight silence.

I fight the forgetting

of me.

so please—

to the ones who love us both,

ask how I am too.

see the weight

on my shoulders

that looks like strength

but is sometimes

just survival.