For the Record

Poetry

Photo by Jason Hafso on Unsplash

Let me preface by saying that you don’t want

to follow in my footsteps but instead tread the path

running adjacent, the lower road, because as it goes

the high road is not always the most ideal.

I’ve been called a doormat and a pushover,

every niggling attack against my character,

all because I take “being nice” too seriously

and don’t want to get on anyone’s bad side.

“Do me a favor,” though, results in frustration

because all I can think of is how I’ll lose out

in this deal that does not benefit me at all.

But “be a good girl” and “play nice” have always been

my greatest downfalls, bar few other elsewise.

I’m the shoulder to cry on, the apt listener,

the mountain for others when in fact I’m a rock

that’s eroding from the inside-out slowly but surely.

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I’m the stepping stone, the last to be called,

the one who receives an invite too late,

but when someone needs something