In My Arms

Late at night the phone rings
And you’re knocking down my door
Saying you just want to quit
So I hold you closely in my arms
Cause I know you’re stronger than this

Feeling the scars on your back
I’m reminded of the weight you carry
Always standing on two feet
With the world on your shoulders
So I hold you closely in my arms
Cause I know you’re stronger than this

Even when you’re shaking in pain and anger
We breathe in deep
And it all just falls away
So I hold you closely in my arms
Cause I know you’re stronger than this

Those striking brown eyes filled with trouble
Peer into mine late at night
We don’t move
I just hold you closely in my arms
Cause I know you’re stronger than this

Saying you just want to quit
Is just not our way
In my arms
We are stronger than this

© 2017 Jessica Santos

Hear Us, Love Us, Rescue Me

America’s greatest holiday and he’s away. Away on vacation with a family of his own? Some may consider it as such others call it his duty and right.

Meanwhile, I lie awake at night tossing and turning. I haven’t heard from him and I don’t expect to not for the next few days at least. You see, we’re on a schedule. Only once a week am I graced with his scruffy quiet voice as he whispers into my ear. But that’s only through an earpiece.

Seeing each other would be catastrophic and not for us but for the family who depends on him. The weight of the world is on his shoulders and I wouldn’t wish that feeling on my worst of enemies. It destroys a being, makes them lose their self. The small glimpses I see of him, I see the struggle.

Secretly, he wants to run away to the coast or to the tippy top of a mountain far from the demands of another. But, his knapsack holds him back. It’s filled with the memories and keepsakes of thousands depending on him.

So, he can’t come at my beck and call. He can’t lay by my side at peace. But, together, on opposite sides of the world, we can stare into the sky looking at the same sun, the same moon where I will pray for the slightest ease of pain that he may feel from a blast only feet away. And he will pray for the silence that the world must beg for.

Maybe together, he’ll come home someday.

Until then, I keep the porch light on and the bed warm so that when he does return, he’s more than welcomed to rest his weary spirit.

© 2017 Jessica Santos