The Warrior’s Path

Brick by brick she layers up the frame for defense;

Blocking cheap shots, whilst she remembers: god's givens, great logics, and some common sense

This wall she builds binds her yet blocks,

Strong enough to withstand immediate blows but weak when they chain her and jimmy the locks

It is a systematic protection,

An anti-detection,

For those empathetic stabs once felt in her core,

And the sympathetic healing once given to the world

It's a buffering so trite, she bends and does not break

Seems to be a reflection of a warrior—so firm, as she stares into the lake

She knows she's done well at ignoring the wrongs and denying her doubt

Yet the lake had no praise and warned out loud:

"My girl, you must know your path"

She stared the reflection back and let out a roaring laugh:

“My path is one of give and take.

For I take what I give and I get what I may."

Astray she went, off into her haze

As the lake's wisdom began to fade:

"That is the heart of the commoners' mistakes;

For the health of the weary belongs to another's fate."

She carried on, went about her day,

Came across a rolling meadow that seemed to get in her way

She'd prefer to ignore the beauty that runs about,

So she closes off the senses: chases the quiet and ignores the loud

Yes it is true: her path is one of give and take

But she knows it's a gift of vanity, for merely giving's sake

She locks eyes with her ego, withering with this tricky bruise

Then that ego spins a tale in remembrance of a past's awful ruse

As the perception blazes her soul, destroying the ticking minute,

Yet the surroundings continue to respect her in each passing instant

The ego points her ahead on her path, and there comes this great wall,

She shatters it with her stare, as the force catapults her to a fall;

Then there he was, soft and hard all at once

So she put her fists up, and took this mighty lunge

She wasn't yet midair, when that monster of a time ago

Hit her with a mystic block, some emotional heart-heated blow

He had coward in his own palms, and let out a piercing cry:

“I built those walls so I could run and hide!"

She felt his words and heard his cry, deep within her beating chest,

She was jolted off and thrown back—but she knew it was with a test

She sat there for a moment gathering her thoughts

Slightly bewildered, and.. slightly shocked

Her head was dizzy, she didn't feel right,

She felt too much emotion, expecting a fight of a physical kind

This monster stayed hovered in the corner, as the girl quipped:

"But you... you're a monster, you must fight when the storm hits,

Yet you are scared and tame!

You act as tho you are in a frightful pain!

I don't understand why you act this lame!

You have jagged teeth and a wild mane!

" The monster shivered back: "But you.. you're a warrior in disguise,

You know not your path but you hold yourself tight to your own lies!

There's no greater danger for I than understanding my opponent,

For my winning odds and anger die in that same moment!

If I tore you apart after knowing your heart,

My own soul would be both a target and death in a dart.”

She sat there in struggle, feeling the blow,

Thought to herself, she should stay and feel, so she immediately wanted to go

Head amuck, body still thrown,

She bravely stood up, and agreed to know

If not by intrigue, perhaps by sense,

but it was certain that she originally had come for less

She left that scene, in her own head;

Broken walls and a monster left better than dead

With an understanding breeding the light,

As standing firm is only for the light in contrite

She knows, she already knows:

The wisdom of the heavens and the way she must go,

For a warrior fights when they must stand, but holds peace whenever they can

Able to see justice and trusts, but knows the lay of the lands

They catch tears of all others, not to forget the monsters but forgiving the attacks

They walk about the meadows, observe the surroundings and pay respects back

They take what they're given, in a natural acceptance,

Deep in a reciprocal freedom, shallow of repentance

With a future that is never certain, built on a moment that never lasts

She now knows her path, for she clearly observed her powerless past

She clings to nothing other than her faith and integrity in love

Avoiding nothing—not the monsters within or that understanding of

Feeling it to heal it: she embraces those inevitable, yet impermanent falls

She still fights for her life: breaking down ever-constructing walls

When there is no chore in the art of giving,

When giving is simply the pleasure of living,

That will be the day this warrior has ascended...

And that will be the day this warrior is mended

The Warrior’s Path