I’ve walked beside you
Behind you
Broke your fall
     And never told you
      
Sliced my tongue on the words of others
To cut them off before they reach you

Picked thorns
                     Before embedded
Opened your eyes before you notice
                     What you can’t see

Hoped for a reaction
                     A gasp
                     A stumble
                     A something
Anything

Even if you said I was nothing
I could walk away
Owning a presence
              That may have been worthy
              Of a second glance