Dedicated to all of you, everyone who reads this and anyone who needs this:
(To be read in the form of spoken word poetry)
This poem is about a friend
A friend that we all need
It goes by the name of Care
While liberty pushes the door open
Care knocks, and waits
While worship pretends that you’re flawless
Refuses to acknowledge
your messy habits
Care joins you for lunch
when you chew with your mouth open
While charm looks gorgeous
with full makeup, in party wear
Care looks straight out of bed
and oh-so-attractive
Faith is blind
closes its eyes when you’re snacking at midnight
though you promised to diet
Care chuckles knowing
you’ll get to your goals in the end
While passion floods, overwhelms
Care flows like a stream, soothing
While desire is urgent, Care is patient
Desire asks you for more,
like a telemarketer who won’t put the phone down
Care already has everything it needs
While intimacy is too close, too much,
but never enough,
Care knows where to draw the line.
Intimacy is that big packet of chips
that always leaves you wanting
But, Care is just the right amount of sugar
in your morning coffee
Kindness can feel like charity you don’t deserve
Care feels like the little nudge you needed
that couldn’t have come at a better time
While passion oversteps boundaries,
comes out of the blue moon,
vanishes like it never was,
Care is like that next-door neighbour
you can call on for help
but knows where to draw the line
Trust depends on you for protection
Care knows your secrets without you telling
Trust is that promotion you sweated for
Care is that bonus that comes along
the bonus you’re still not sure what you did to deserve
Admiration can put you on a false pedestal
Care keeps you humble and grounded
While sympathy gets drenched with you
In the puddle of your tears
Care knows to hold an umbrella in the rain
While pity feels like a boss on his high horse
Care can feel like the coworker you so relate to
While courtesy asks for your permission
before taking the last slice of pizza
Care sees that you haven’t eaten out in a while
knows not to ask for a bite
While affection is a playful child
that jumps for attention
Care is the mother hen
Joy can feel like riding
the high of a giant wheel
all the while knowing
that you’ll have to get down soon
Care is a tightrope walker
every time the wind blows
Care steadies itself and regains balance
While value looks at you
like a prized investment
Care is always down
to put some money in a startup
Advise is the older sibling,
who sees you broken,
assumes you need saving
Care realises that
all the holes punctured in you
lets you breathe in new experiences
Gratitude can get transactional
I owe you one, for everything you’ve done
Care doesn’t need a contract
to give you a hug on a bad day
Love fears, care is clear,
love wonders whether it should leave
but care knows it’s here to stay
Possessiveness bolts the door at night
lest you walk out after lights out
Care keeps the door ajar
knowing that you’ll choose right
Bondage is like a rope that ties
tethers you in its bind
But Care is that one knot
you pull it, you’re free
Acceptance looks behind
Hope makes plans for tomorrow
Care finds all its answers in
right here, right now
No matter your place in the world today,
as you care for yourself, day after day,
whether you’re relishing isolation
or struggling in silence,
I need you to know
About you, I care.
Copyright © Roshni Ramanan
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