# Heart of the Lion

Author: ShingetsuMoon
Tags: Fursona, Lioness, Poem, Poetry

#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.

Source: https://sofurry.com/s/r17Wo9R1
Part of the series National Poetry Writing Month
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