With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?

She stood for the weaker ones when they cried out.
She took them in her arms and removed their doubt.

Her back to the storm would save those she knew,
taking their beatings until she was beaten black and blue.
With lesions and scars embellishing her skin,
she is constantly reminded of where she has been.

Those she has protected are now doing fine,
but now she is hurting and they leave her behind.
It's never enough that she was always there,
and would go miles out of her way to show how she cared.

One said he was going insane and she took to the road
Six hours later, she was there lightening his load.
Now he sides against her, forgets her existence,
and won't come to her aid upon her asking for assistance.

Another friend, broken-hearted, needed to laugh
but once she healed his pain, he broke her in half.
He chased after those she loved and convinced them her evil
Now with no one to turn to, her life is in upheaval.

One couldn't take the pressure of school and love,
so she held her friend's hand and was neglected of.
When a fight came and then a side had to be picked,
It ended in hate and from her apartment she was kicked.

One friend, being sexually harassed, couldn't be rid of a guy
so she stood up for her friend but was turned a blind eye
Being shrieked at and hated for things out of her control,
her friend abandoned her and shattered her soul.

Over and over she protected those she cared for,
and over and over it all ended at a closed door.
Now bleeding and shattered, no self respect or worth,
no one stands to protect her, she's no one to call forth.

Still holding the weak ones so they are not pain's prisoner
She is hesitant to care for everyone else betrayed her.
Tired of standing for the weaker ones when they cry out
for when they regain strength, it is always her they discount.

She says over again to herself to just hold on one more day
but with everyone else's pain added to her own, she is fading away.

~E J Royson