Cost of Caring

Breathing in and breathing out

Trying to calm the anger

That boils and bubbles

As it strives to be our fetter.

Releasing this frustration

Is a task we strive to do

Before it consumes ourselves

And destroys our placid cool.

Acting under the influence

Of such a stressed heart

Can often lead to pain

In every person’s part.

The ones to whom we turn

In attempt to understand

The pent-up anger and grief

We fail to now disband.

Fingers clench and throats tighten

To stop the flow of words

Which can only cause more grief

As a flock of angry birds.

The struggle to maintain control

In emotional chaotic days

Drains the body and the mind

In numerous painful ways.

The walls spring up again

Taller and stronger than ever

To protect both ourselves

And the friendships unsevered.

The refusal to acknowledge

The numerous issues at hand

Is the foremost issue we have

With the friends with whom we’re mad.

Their willful blinded eye

And closed jealous ear

All serve to raise our anger

At a personal cost quite dear.

Why do we stick around

And endure the constant harm?

Why don’t we leave behind

The friends who lose their charm?

Is it a masochistic thought?

A sick desire for pain?

Is that why we endure the hurt

Again and again and again?

No. The reason runs still deeper

Into the essence of man

Who cares for his friends always

Even those he should ban.

We stay because we care

More truly than we often choose.

The friends we now despise

Are the hardest ones to lose.

And the knowledge of the truth

Lying beneath their mad exterior

Keeps us hanging on forever

To bring forth the good interior.

Being friends calls for more

Than company and little jokes.

It’s a state of being in man

With which no one can coax.

The true friend sticks it out

Until the bitter end

Refusing to allow someone

To cease being their friend.

Although we must present the truth

To people who often don’t care

To listen with open mind

And their thoughts to repair.

Yet they need to hear our words

For we act only out of love

As we attempt to bring them peace

Just like the holy dove.

So our own needs we push aside

For when caring some must be gone

And this innate love for others

Makes the decision a clear one.

This is the cost of caring

For those who’ve yet to discover

Their own true identity

Which we try to help uncover.

So we fight the bad and praise the good

As we wait for the blissful day

When this friend will realize

The numerous errors of his way.

Explanations fail to show

The reason behind our choice.

The feelings we have and act upon

Supersede our self-preserving voice.

So we cling to each other

In our fits of insanity

And move ever onward

With a solemn gravity.

You and I will always be there

To support each other in this trial

As we strive to be true friends

In the midst of pain compiled.

Our own suffering

We now offer up

As we work together

To open his heart up.

To make him see somehow

The fault in his own logic

And the mental whiplash

Of his switching emotions.

We’ll make it through together

This current painful time

And maybe understand one day

What has no reason or rhyme.

Until that day comes to us

The chocolate bin will always be full

And the late nights continue on

As we resist anger’s pull.

God help those around us

If our strong wills should snap

And the tongues be unleashed

To release all the ———.

So we’ll cling to each other

And weather the storm,

Praying for a return

To a comfortable normality.