Grin, Bear it

When I came to you less aglow,

More a-futile,

You took me by the face

You said “grin and bear it”

And you meant it,

And it was true.

I didn’t need to see you crack

But there you were, cracking,

Not breaking but fractured

And bandaged together,

With your grin,

Your bearing it,

Your lending me your words-

Handing me the hatchet

That dulls its strength

Against the talc-ish surface

Of a terrible sky,

“Grin,” she said,

“and it’s important that you bear it.”

Don’t worry about these,

These soot of bejeweled apathies,

We think at first

Fuck you,

Your haughtiness, your quaint aloof,

But we grin, we bear it;

We say we care less and feel more,

Feel less, think less

More less, less more

Fake it, bear it, bare skin

Like a necklace

Made of semi-precious stones,

I won this

And I didn’t even cry-

I am the best he leaves me alone

And I don’t even cry I don’t,

Don’t say “I miss you” because I don’t,

I can be as unfeeling as you,

I can be sorrier than you

And unapologetic, don’t misunderstand,

Don’t miss-upper-hand, I can

Do this all night, see you at breakfast.

I’ll be the one with the 10 minutes less sleep,

Chipped them off the morning

To look pretty for you,

So when I see you

My eyes see you,

So that you see them back,

With the edges, and I won’t even cry

But I’ll grin, I’ll bear it,

Because I see now

That you’re just as much a fixture of this

As the frame around the window,

And I’m learning.