I am the buck that stands alone
Guiding my herd from winter’s hollow groan
The ravenous wolves stop my path
Their fangs are seething with rage, I feel their wrath
They have claws and numbers
And all I have is my will to keep me from going under
It is a pack of beasts going against me
My antlers are my crown refusing to accept defeat

Old wounds lace my hide like threads —
Proof I’ve faced worse and never played dead.
My hooves are steady, heart beat loud,
I will not kneel, I will not bow.

My herd has left me behind
It’s hard to keep my determination in line
I soon start to find that maybe the feeling of teeth
Will feel kinder than winter’s pain and grief
They circle me as a lone deer - it’s not fair
but Mother Nature never said she had justice to share

The other day, I told you
Your battle was invisible—
But I was wrong.
I see you fighting,
Every single day,
And it’s beautiful.
You still carry yourself
With so much poise, elegance, and grace.
Because of the beauty of war
is not to pass unscathed,
But to wear your scars with pride,
to survive,
and to tell their story.

I might have blurry vision,
But I can see perfectly clear that I have feelings for you.

Sometimes, it’s embarrassing
being a ceiling fan
for a man.

I turn myself in circles—
whizzing,
buzzing,
whirling—
just so he can have
the illusion of being cool.

Meanwhile,
he stays still.
Unmoved.
Unaware.

Never noticing
how much I do
just to keep the air
from feeling stale.

He doesn’t thank me.
Doesn’t see me.

Just mutters,
“Must’ve been the wind,”
and moves on
with his day.

Did you know you’re stronger than a knight? Because you wear no armor, yet you still bear the scars of every battle you’ve survived.

You did not stop believing because you failed.
You failed because you stopped believing.