When the spreadsheets are balanced and colleagues placated
When wages are paid and your mission is stated
When a project has had every bit of your brain
And problems have happened again and again
When you've fought for the cause in which you believe
And secretly thought about how you could leave
When the people you serve with skill and compassion
Are asking for more than an angel could fashion
When your lunch was postponed and your tea has gone cold
And you’re starting to feel what it is to get old
When hormones have raged through the day and the night
And you’ve cried in the shower and said you’re alright
As you smoothly transform from the boss into mother
Then reshape again lest he takes on a lover
Your body and mind have given and given
The homework extracted, the eldest one driven
The dinner's been cooked and the dishes are done
Laundry extracted and washed, rinsed and spun
Arguments sorted and nearly alone
As notifications ping in to your phone
The kisses delivered, the squeezes too tight
The guilt where the stories are cut short tonight
There’s a moment you sit and come into your space
And find yourself fizzing your way into grace
There’s “just one last thing" that I want you to do
I want you to give something more just for you
It’s going to take effort, your last bit of might
Put down the remote and move to the light
The last bit of you that you’d give to your friend
I want you to take it and use it to mend
Because if she asked at the end of the day
You’d do what she needed to make it okay
That energy left, you have to use up
I want you to use it to fill up your cup
Do what fills you with your super powers
The thing you could do for hours and hours
Whether it’s music, or dance or fine art
Sport, crochet or poems or songs from the heart
Meditation or yoga or boxing or baking
Fill up that cup to replenish the taking
You cannot keep giving, you cannot keep up
Instead you must learn to fill up that cup
You are amazing the way that you are
Perfectly precious, a real superstar
Look after yourself like you would a best friend
And you can keep giving, but right at the end
You take
Just one last thing.