Empaths

Only empaths,

those who've sacrificed so much of themselves

they've got little left to give

say things like,

"I'm selfless to a fault".

It's taken years for her to understand that

her greatest traits

don't become flaws

simply because someone couldn't appreciate them.

Her respect - something she earned herself.

Her value - in how she viewed herself.

Her time - spent on her terms.

Her energy - went only where she chose.

Her love - something she now shows herself first.

Maybe where she's meant to be

is wherever she is,

and right now

she's the one she's falling for.

The world shudders at the thought of a woman

so fiercely independent, she starts taking back

what was hers all along.

It struggles to make sense of a spirit

finally sure of its strength,

no longer afflicted by casted aspersions.

They'll wonder what changed in her.

What about her is forever altered.

Maybe she's so for herself

there's no room for dead weight -

less becomes more.

Maybe she's finally becoming who she was meant to be,

the one she deserved all along.

Maybe she's realizing how to make right

of what was never actually wrong.

~J. Raymond