Armored (Poem)

Armored

What a thrill it is

To hide where no one

Can find a blemish

Eyes which show exciting blood

Concealing the confusing contusion

Festering and rotting inside

Yet outside looking fierce

It is no wonder that

So much is spoken

While so little is

Said except

Honoring the dents of

Stainless steel intentionally

Scratched for meaning and

Valued in battles fought valiantly

Continued beyond white flags

Post chest and heart disorder

So great a fighter others believe

His war was already won when

The armor hides the scars of

A boy fighting at being a man

A coward in the suit of Goliath

A true David only when the

Slngshot is thrown into the river

Carried far and away where

The phantom struggle fades

Without striving there’s only hiding

Inside the turmoil shows a diamond

In the rough is soft and shining

After all the dust is settles and

Washed I watch as a boy

Tosses his armor far and away

Behold a man scarred and scared

Willing to find healing for wounds

Eyes to see beyond the confusion

Words to undress the armor needed

For words wounded by other boys

Scared and scarred by other boys

The armor is universal but valued

Differently according to the merits

Decided by the oldest boys yet

To become men and cry tears

Of true boys who need not admit

They need other boys and

Girls to come and speak gently

To the wildest and fiercest baby

Called the ego but praised as man