Not Left Unsaid

After seeing my sister-in-law and her husband begin their struggle with his cancer, I have thought a lot about how couples share burdens. Sometimes one person has to be the strong one for them both, and yet it is always a burden they carry together. However, there are times when one, or both, can feel alone or isolated. It is a seemingly impossible struggle to be a part of, experiencing trials that both pull two people together and make them feel far apart.

It's different for everyone, I realize, but the impressions I have gotten led me to write the below poem.

Not Left Unspoken

Silent words still spoken

Held inside by fresh tears

Brief smiles left as tokens

Of hope found beyond fears

For though grief’s foulest storms

Leave them lost oft' again

Two strangers together

Wading through moor and fen

Both known and yet unknown

To a torment they share

As one lifts the other

A patient love both bear

Not needing spoken thanks

For what they both cherish

Burning coals deep within

Kept warm not to perish