A Caregiver’s journal of small mercies

Caregiving refers to the sustained emotional, physical, and relational labor of accompanying another person through illness, dependency, or bodily vulnerability. This poem explores caregiving not as a heroic act, but as a quiet practice of endurance shaped by ordinary gestures: preparing medicine, adjusting blankets, waiting through the night, and returning despite exhaustion. Through the form of a caregiver's journal, the poem reflects how love is often expressed through small, repetitive acts that remain unseen yet deeply meaningful. It also acknowledges the caregiver's fatigue, guilt, impatience, and fear of self-erasure. In line with poetry therapy, the poem positions language as a space where caregiving can be named, witnessed, and softened. Rather than offering healing as cure, it imagines healing as the courage to say: I am tired, I am here, and I am still learning to love without disappearing.