Too often we trivialize
the hardship of survival.
Too often we think what is natural
is also easy.

Too often we pretend to ignore
the glass shards that fill our lungs
with every breath we take—
smiling as they puncture our throats
and we swallow the blood down,
content to choke on the silence.

But I am a warrior—
the kind that is constantly at war
with myself.
My breath is my battle cry,
and my heart is a sound piece,
announcing victory with each beat.

—And the fight goes on.