You can tell when a woman has been through a lot, it’s the weariness of her face.
The erasure of her smile replaced with a blank stare.
She isn’t broken just tired of the lies.
Don’t mistake or assume her demise.

She hasn’t lost hope.
Hope just sits around the corner waiting to hear back from a wait list that never gets shorter but continues to grow day by day.
Using the strength she has to rise from her pillow only to allow her head to fall in that same place night after night.
Worrying if her children can sleep without the lights.

Tears no longer fall from her eyes.
She learned those drops didn’t change the fact that her baby has to eat.
Watching her own dreams  become obsolete.
A numbness washes over her body as she lays submerged in the water.
Cleansing her aching bones and reviving her relentless spirit.

You see her everyday working in the office next to you, sitting in her car in traffic, or standing at the bus stop.

She maybe feeding her children an orange while waiting under a stop sign holding a family in need sign.
She is the prayer, the plea and the redemption.

Her resilience echoes a vibration the universe cannot deny it can only supply and fulfill her desperate needs.