✈️💙Free Verse (56)💙✈️ – Showing Up 💙✈️

#freeverse #poetry

I showed up for my birth,
A long-awaited baby for
my parents, followed by
a younger sister, we were close.

I showed up for my school 
days, loving to learn all they
had to teach me and more,
as I avidly read the library books

I showed up for my wedding,
for the birth of my two sons
I tried my best throughout
my life, mistakes were made.

I showed up to be in the army
in Northern Ireland, where as
a Greenfinch I put my life on the
line in active service to my country

I showed up for my divorce,
with the scars of domestic
violence upon my psyche 
And I grew ever stronger

I showed up to bring my 
children up on my own
I took responsibility for their
lives and for mine too

I showed up for my parents'
deaths, thirty-five years apart.
I showed up for my younger
son's fatal drug overdose 

I show up for grief every day
For that, is the last place for
love to go - it lives within
my battered and scarred heart

I showed up for my eldest
grandson when he needed help
and was more than happy to
be there with all sorts of support.

I show up for my friends
a phone call away, I love
meeting them and going
out for a meal, enjoying company

I will show up for my elder
son, should he ever need me,
my door ever open to his knock
and again, only a phone call away

I show up for my beloved cats,
Miss Molly and Sooty, feed and
look after them, for they are my
daily companions in later life.

I show up for writing poetry
every day, reading, performing
spoken word, feeding my soul
with love and all that gratitude

I show up every day, despite
chronic pain and fatigue, I soldier
on because I live in every moment
and at my age, every day is a bonus!

©🦊VixenOfVerse,  2025

*With special thanks to my fellow poet, SHAK MILL, whose poem about showing up called " Showing Up Matters" inspired this one.  A case of one poet's creativity inspiring another poet's.*