The Mirror of the Sanctuary: A Poem on Kindness and Overcoming Exhaustion

 

The Mirror of the Sanctuary

I am a daughter of compassion,

With kindness woven in my sleeve,

I find the grace in every season

And give the love that I receive.

Yet in the quiet of the evening,

The questions echo in the dark:

Why must the ones I love so deeply

Leave such a heavy, shadowed mark?

My hands grow clumsy with the burden,

My steps are heavy, feet grow cold,

While carrying a thousand stories

That my own lips have never told.

I wore the mask, endured the breaking,

And swept the inner shards away—

Faking a smile to heal a stranger,

While tearing down day after day.

But even glass that falls and shatters

Can show us where the borders lie.

A giving heart deserves a shelter,

A space to rest, a right to cry.

No longer hidden in the silence,

No longer pouring from an empty cup—

The heart that mends a broken world

Is worth the love that lifts it up.