The Way She Stayed

By Shanmukha Vitta

She never said the words,

not in the way the world expects love to be spoken.

But in her staying,

she taught me more about love

than words ever could.

It was in the way she carried burdens

without complaint,

her back straight,

her eyes steady,

her heart unyielding

to the weight of the world.

She taught me resilience

in the quietest ways—

in the way she rose every morning,

even when the nights had been too long.

In the way her hands mended thorns,

not just in fabric,

but in life itself.

She showed me

that love isn’t just the soft moments.

It’s the strength to endure,

to hold on when everything else

threatens to break apart.

When life pressed hard,

she stayed,

rooted like an ancient tree,

her branches sheltering me

from storms I didn’t know how to face.

And now, when the winds howl,

I stand tall,

because she taught me how—

not with words,

but with the way she stayed.

By Shanmukha Vitta