You can’t be everything to everyone —
You’ll run out of breath just trying to be heard.
Water dead plants with your last drop of clean water,
And still be called selfish for not flooding the room.

You’ll give so much; your name starts sounding
Like “help me.” You’ll leave the party empty,
Because you fed Everyone but Yourself.
And somehow, the silence you sit in is still too loud.

Even your worth will start asking for validation
You yourself don’t have the strength left to give.
Be everything to you, before you become —
Nothing to anyone. Not even you.

The greatest betrayal?

When the positivity-giver isn’t so
positive themselves. When the light
they hand out doesn’t reach their
own shadow.

Belief in self-worth— they say it’s
your shell. But I haven’t found the
pearl that fits my shape.

Still liquid—I form myself to every
room, shape my smile to fit their
forecast. These tears? Not weakness.
Just soil erosion.

Washing away what held me—
leaving me bare, unready for tomorrow’s
weight. Like the trampled flower—
I’m not phased. I remember the feet
that pressed me into the same ground
I bloomed from.

I haven’t forgotten all those soles
that stepped on my feat.