Between Bruises and Blooms

People think loyalty
is loud.

I think it’s quiet.

It’s answering the phone
without asking,
“What’s wrong this time?”

It’s showing up
after the tenth disaster,
not just the first.

It’s remembering
who someone was
before the world
started taking pieces of them.

You stayed.

And somehow,
that became
one of the greatest acts of love
I’ve ever known.