Heart of the Lion
#13 of National Poetry Writing Month
Poem number 13 for National Poetry Month. This one about my primary fursona Reno Blazefire the lioness.
Heart of the Lion
Have you ever wanted to be someone else? Something else?
Have you ever longed to break free of whatever chains are holding you back?
Better. Stronger. Kinder. More independent. More compassionate. More outgoing. More restrained.
Someone who knows exactly who they are and exactly where they want to go in life.
Someone who lives their dreams instead of hiding in the dark and mourning the day they finally gave up on them for good.
A person who makes everyone else around her better just by her presence and the weight of her words.
We create alternate selves to embody that which we would love to be.
But if you had the chance to become that person. That alternate persona would you take it?
Would you take on everything that they are and leave yourself behind forever. Would you become a different person knowing you could never go back to the way things were.
Oh how I long for the heart of a lion.
I am weak and she is strong.
She always has the right words to say to comfort those she cares about. I am blunt and tactless. Fumbling over my words unless given time to plan them out in verse and prose.
She speaks up against any injustice that she sees. Her blood boiling at the thought of another being made to suffer for the amusement or hate of someone else.
I hang my head in silence while my heart demands that I say something to correct their ignorance and error. I flee the room while tears threaten to break free from my eyes and my heart condemns me for not being brave enough to silence their hate.
She loves and fights for those she cares about with a passion that could shake the world. She lives boldly and does not fear her own emotions. She knows who she is and she is in perfect control.
She makes no apologies for who she is. The lion does not sit around idly waiting for things to change. If something is wrong with what she's done or who she is then she does not waste her time on shame or guilt. She takes action to correct that which is wrong and if she cannot do anything about it then she does not let it drag her into the depths of depression or self loathing.
I write my words down in poems and stand by with a nervous flutter in my chest as I finally work up the courage to let others see just the tiniest glimpse of my most heartfelt emotions.
I fight for every foot, every inch so that I can be proud of who I am and what I am only to have others tear it down with a few simple words.
She looks in the mirror and swells with pride over the fierce queen that she is. Strong, kind, compassionate, confident, merciful, bold but not reckless, careful but not overly cautious. Totally comfortable with who she is, who she loves, who her friends are, and the future she wants for herself.
I stare in the mirror telling myself that I am and always will be good enough. Then I lower my eyes while trying to muster the strength to show that courage to others.
She is everything I wish I was and everything I want myself to become.
Once, just once I wish I could have the heart of a lion.