Score |
83
Still They Cheered
<p><br/></p><p>They say every soldier dreams of the day the war finally ends.</p><p><br/></p><p>I never did.</p><p><br/></p><p>As long as there was another battle to fight, another burden to carry, another impossible task to conquer, I believed I still had a purpose.</p><p><br/></p><p>I thought the battlefield was keeping me alive.</p><p><br/></p><p>I never realized it was slowly killing me.</p><p><br/></p><p>People called it resilience.</p><p><br/></p><p>I called it breathing.</p><p><br/></p><p>Somewhere along the march, the victories became heavier than the battles themselves. The armour that once felt weightless began to sink into my skin. Every step demanded more of me than the last, yet I kept walking.</p><p><br/></p><p>Not because I was strong.</p><p><br/></p><p>Because I didn't know how to stop.</p><p><br/></p><p>The strange thing about surviving is that people mistake survival for invincibility.</p><p><br/></p><p>So I kept performing.</p><p><br/></p><p>I smiled through exhaustion.</p><p><br/></p><p>Led while I was lost.</p><p><br/></p><p>Encouraged others while quietly forgetting how to encourage myself.</p><p><br/></p><p>They saw a soldier who never abandoned the front line.</p><p><br/></p><p>What they never saw...</p><p><br/></p><p>...was the general dying behind the armour.</p><p><br/></p><p>Broken ribs hidden beneath polished steel.</p><p><br/></p><p>A heart bruised by disappointments it never spoke of.</p><p><br/></p><p>An arrow of fear lodged so deeply within my chest that I eventually mistook the pain for part of myself.</p><p><br/></p><p>There were battles no enemy fought.</p><p><br/></p><p>Only the ones inside me.</p><p><br/></p><p>When I could go no farther, I found an old oak standing alone at the edge of the field.</p><p><br/></p><p>I collapsed beneath its branches.</p><p><br/></p><p>My sword slipped from my hand.</p><p><br/></p><p>For the first time, I wasn't preparing for another battle.</p><p><br/></p><p>I was simply trying to breathe.</p><p><br/></p><p>Then they found me.</p><p><br/></p><p>Not to lift me.</p><p><br/></p><p>Not to bind my wounds.</p><p><br/></p><p>Not to ask how long I had been bleeding.</p><p><br/></p><p>They applauded.</p><p><br/></p><p>They praised my courage.</p><p><br/></p><p>They celebrated my endurance.</p><p><br/></p><p>They called me brave.</p><p><br/></p><p>But bravery was never what I needed.</p><p><br/></p><p>I didn't need applause.</p><p><br/></p><p>I needed someone to notice the blood.</p><p><br/></p><p>Instead, they admired the armour...</p><p><br/></p><p>and ignored the man wearing it.</p><p><br/></p><p>So they placed another burden on my shoulders.</p><p><br/></p><p>Another battle in my hands.</p><p><br/></p><p>Another expectation upon my back.</p><p><br/></p><p>Because, to them, a soldier exists to fight.</p><p><br/></p><p>Even if he has forgotten what peace feels like.</p><p><br/></p><p>Even if every step leaves a trail of blood.</p><p><br/></p><p>Even if the war has already claimed him.</p><p><br/></p><p>Still...</p><p><br/></p><p>they cheered.</p>
40
Other insights from Oluwaseun Balogun
Referral Earning
Points-to-Coupons
Insights for you.
All that I gave
Oh, hey there!It's me... again...You know, There's so much I want to saySo much I want ...
288 views
43 upvotes
41 comments
70
70Seventy is one of those numbers that seems to carry weight.Not because there's anythi...
144 views
34 upvotes
31 comments
That’s Everything
Look at me!I used to be a foot. Now I’m a fist. A clenched thing pushed into a satin b...
262 views
28 upvotes
26 comments
Momma
The carriage bumped over the dirt road.“Momma, where am I going?”Her voice was tiny. He...
112 views
32 upvotes
32 comments
Mapped
She has patches that look like continents no cartographer bothered to name.Her mother c...
192 views
28 upvotes
29 comments
1232 views
16 upvotes
16 comments
Comments