Hold

There is a chain of suffering
Of overcoming
For every trial
Never alone

The mothers, warriors
The creators and unmakers
Those we know or lost to time
Named or nameless
Undying

Their pain undone
Set, or even occurring now
To know makes ice endurable
The burns less unbearable to touch

Grinding, pressing, smiling
As every smile
Each kind word
Every duty fulfilled
All the kind tasks complete

Every act of redemption
Each new difficulty charted
The thousand thousand hands of heroes
Of the people, of the weary and forgotten

Hold us

Let them grip you
As we uphold them.

By J.W.H. Hobbs.