The Longstanding Patience

This world is growing fast

Forward it only goes

New things it is learning

All things it thinks it knows

But the world has forgotten something

Amidst all other things

It’s forgotten patience

And all the good it brings

People scurry around

They live their busy lives

What they want they want right now

Their patience won’t survive

People anger quickly

Small things can bug them so

They shout and swing and snap at

These projected foes

People don’t give second chances

Let alone a third

And when people disappoint again

The fiftieth chance is unheard

I am only human

My weaknesses are many

But I have patience on my side

It is my best trait if any

My patience is practiced every day

With the ones with whom I’m near

Especially my Sister

One I hold so dear

My sister was a fire

She burned and spat so swift

She hit and screamed and threw fits

It was easy to get miffed

When I tried to calm her

It only made it worse

She’d yell and say she hated me

Thought I was trying to coerce

My mother would look at me

Once Sister’s fit was through

And ask me how I held my tongue

While Sister’s cruel words flew

My sister’s not a monster

She’s sweet in many ways

But she tends to hang on me

And acts weird in many ways

She’ll act like she’s half her age

And poke and prod at me

When I’m talking to new people

She just won’t let me be

My new acquaintances look at me

When Sister’s gone away

And ask how I kept my head

When Sister won’t stay at bay

My sister’s not the only one

To put my patience to the test

I once had a friend in the neighborhood

Who was little more than a pest

She’d make grand plans and pulled me in

Whether I wanted to or not

And on the day we set our plan

She’d back out or say she forgot

She wasn’t kind either

Many friends she had lost

She’d talk behind your back

As soon as she felt crossed

My other friends looked at me

When our friendship was finally through

And asked how I’d made it that long

No one else had, we knew

Family can hurt you deep

And friends can easily annoy

But when one is at work

More patience must be employed

I am a hostess

I greet you when you arrive

But when a problem comes around

A solution I must derive

The issue is rarely my fault

But that’s not what people see

They come up to my counter

And complain and snap at me

My co-workers look at me

When the customer has finally gone

And ask me how I kept so calm

When another would have quit thereupon

School is very frustrating

Almost everyone would agree

But when people learn I was homeschooled

They look differently at me

They assume I must be stupid

Or at the least lazy with my school

Even some of my teachers

Originally thought me to be a fool

My friends in class would look at me

Once their respect I had won

And ask me how I could stand it

Often being shunned

As soon as you step out the door

There’s a world you have to face

It’s filled with rude people

And with patience one must brace

To add on to being homeschooled

My hair is the color of hay

I’ve received many a wise-crack

And blonde jokes along the way

I also am a Christian

So as soon as I make a mistake

People swarm to criticize me

Their words are hard to shake

Anyone who hears this looks at me

As soon as the words are spoke

And ask me why I just stand there

And take every mean joke

To answer the questions posed to me

By friend and stranger alike

I answer that it’s better to love

Than to be impatient and strike

How does one become patient?

It’s not an easy trick

When anger comes and impatience blooms

Patience and love must stick

One must hold back the heat inside

And the heart that drums so fast

And turn that energy into love

Only then can patience last

This is what I’m good at

I’ve practiced every day

Of all my traits this one sticks out

But in the end I must say

I am only human

But patience is my key

And when people look my way

My patience they will see