TO THE ONES WHO STAY

 TO THE ONES WHO STAY 

There are people in this life
 who don’t share my blood,
 but they carry my spirit like a soft lantern they keep lit
 even on the nights I lose my own fire.

These are my people
 my good friends,
 my chosen kin,
 the ones who step into my life
 and love me like they’ve been rehearsing it for generations.

See… some folks are friends by title,
 but the real ones
 the ones I’m talking about
 they love you in verbs.
 In action.
 In that “I’ll pull up right now” energy.
 In that “you don’t gotta explain…just breathe, I’m here” consistency.

These are the friends
 who become family,
 the family
 who become home,
 the home
 that become sanctuary.

They’re the people who look at me
 and don’t just see who I am
 they see everything I survived to get here.
 They know the chapters I don’t read out loud,
 the pages I burned,
 the margins where I wrote prayers
 in handwriting too shaky to share.

And still, they stayed.
 Still, they loved me.
 Still, they held my name gently
 like it was something holy.

My people…
 they’re the kind that show up with soup, laughter, or silence
 depending on what my spirit calls for.
 They’re the ones who know the difference
 between when I need space
 and when I just need someone to sit close enough
 that my heart remembers it’s not alone.

And family
 the ones who raised me,
 the ones who taught me
 the gravity of love,
 the sacredness of showing up
 they planted the seeds
 that grew into the garden of people I now keep around me.

I am blessed
 with folks who don’t just hold me up
 they hold me accountable,
 hold me steady,
 hold me when the world tries to unmake me.

You want to know the truth?
 I measure wealth in the people who love me right.
 In the ones who celebrate my elevation
 and hold tight to me when I sink low.
 The ones who don’t flinch
 when I cry the kind of tears
 that feel like they came from childhood wounds.
 The ones who laugh with me
 like the world ain’t heavy
 even when it is.

Listen
 if you’re in my life
 and you’ve stood with me through storms,
 if you’ve seen me broken
 and decided you’d stay anyway,
 if you’ve cheered for me louder than I cheer for myself
 then you are more than friend,
 more than family,
 more than blessing.

You are my miracle in human form.

You are the steady in my shaking.
 The softness in my healing.
 The truth in my trembling voice
 when I say, with my whole chest:

I wouldn’t be standing here
 if it weren’t for you.

So this poem
 this breath
 this offering
 is my way of telling you
 what my heart has been wanting to scream:

Thank you.
 For loving me.
 For seeing me.
 For carrying me.
 For choosing me.

And if I love you
 then hear me clearly
 that love is lifelong.
 That love is loud.
 That love is a legacy.

You are my people.
 My forever.
 My heart’s safe place.

And I will never stop being grateful
 for the ones who stayed
 when the rest of the world walked out.

An ode to the ones that stayed, a Poem by N'game' Gray 🦋

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