i am quiet courage;
stumbling through the dark
with hands trembling
like thunder,
but never faltering.

i bend, but i will not break
as you snap the parts of me
you see unfit
leaving me broken and stranded
for the vultures
because an animal
is an animal
is an animal.
i am not a passerby with odds and ends
that you can tuck in.
in the throes of spring,
i blossom;
tentative, but unflinching.