Just Checking

are you sleeping enough!!??

or are you pretending you don’t need it

are you eating properly!!???

or living on coffee and stubbornness!!

are you letting yourself miss what’s gone

or carrying it like it doesn’t weigh anything

i hope you’re not swallowing your grief

to look strong

i hope you’re not shrinking your joy

to look calm

are you still doing that thing

you once said mattered to you

even a little

are you stepping outside some days

feeling the air

remembering you have a body

i hope you’re not waiting

for permission

to begin

i hope you’re not calling survival a personality

i hope you laugh loud sometimes

and when it hurts

i hope you let it hurt

so it doesn’t turn into stone

i just want you here

alive in your own life

not just passing through it.