Between Pride and Need I walk

Between Pride and Need I walk this road with weary feet, A storm behind, no light to meet. The weight is heavy, the path unfair, Yet I refuse to beg, to bear. Your hands extend, so kind, so wide, But I see pity where warmth should hide. Not as a debt, not as your cause, I want to stand, but fate gives pause. I ache to move, to rise alone, Yet every step feels carved in stone. Not by choice, but chains unseen, Caught between pride and what has been. I wish you knew, I wish you’d see, I am not weak, just lost at sea. Not charity—just let me breathe, Yet without you, I cannot leave. So here I stay, bound in between, Grateful, tired—yet so unseen.