The Part Nobody Sees

Some days the weight feels heavier
Though nothing new has changed,
Same house, same face inside the mirror,
Just something feels misplaced.

I wake up tired in different ways,
The kind that sleep won't fix,
Like somewhere deep behind my ribs
A wire's come loose a bit.

And people say, "What's wrong with you?"
I wish I had the words,
But sadness doesn't always crash,
Sometimes it just quietly occurs.

Not every hurt arrives like thunder,
Not every break leaves scars,
Sometimes it's years of holding worlds
While forgetting who you are.

A carer.
A man watching life split slowly in two.
Trying to stay strong for everybody else
While disappearing from your own view.

And maybe that's the loneliness,
The part nobody sees,
How you can keep surviving life
Yet still drop to your knees.

Because from the outside I'm functioning,
I laugh, I work, I cope,
But inside there's a quieter voice
Still trying to find some hope.

Not for miracles.
Not for everything to change.
Just to wake up one morning
And not feel strange in my own skin again.