Here you are
now bold enough to
unfurl your innards with
aplomb

when served up
some deep beet blush
by the pointed end of a pitchfork
Don’t be crushed!

Rather than die on the spot
fix your phoenix eye
and RISE

Perhaps they cry?
in the middle of the night
Do they pine? 

for that time 
dashed forever hanker
cracked having 
never

Earned the right!
to launch a full attack on 
all you have to hide…
the vacillating self-esteem
your sense of pride!

Taken to heart weighed
heavily against the feather
this fact so flustering
is merely their
opinion

now shaped by the
IMPACT that you’ve made

Breaking new ground!
can be painful
true

… but for whom?