Tearing Down Defenses Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

A joy increases more inside me,
With a pride no longer do I hide.
Or try defying to deny.

That joy increases more inside me,
And when it started to arrive...
I felt much more alive.

Happiness I discovered was best,
When it had arrived...
I felt much more alive inside.

And when I began to protest,
Against that which had come to test...
Like people who were negative,
With only that to me to give...
I felt much more alive,
By kicking them in the backside.
And tearing down defenses.

That load I had once shouldered,
Diminished when I wished it to defeat.
Those boulders I jumped over,
Became little pebbles chipped away to sweep.

My joy increases deep inside.
Knowing I rid boulders,
To chip from me away.
With a tearing down defenses,
I kept at my expense.
And...
Gone are loaded shoulders,
To prevent my happiness.