10,000 Straws

Bedtimes and homework
Tasks to attend
Shopping and cooking
Chores without end

Everyone counting
on me, everyday
Beds made to lie in
Pipers to pay

Dreams disappointed
Miscarried hopes
Unraveled knots at the
end of my rope

Pile growing heavy
straw after straw
Heart growing weary
bleeding and raw

No moving forward
Can’t see the light
Can’t shed this burden
Too tired to fight

Muscles are trembling
help comes too late
barely withstanding
increasing weight

Last splinter waiting
finally falls
crumbling, crashing
down come the walls

Darkness surrounding
no breath to draw
I’m buried beneath
these ten-thousand straws.