even fierce warriors
must rest eventually
they deserve it
their decades of work
their pages and pages of words
their poems
their letters
their stories
their speeches
their willingness
to stand and be seen
to speak and be heard
they are not lost to me
who held them up as heroes,
knew them only from a distance
their ideas are immortal
their spirits eternal
they lived and fought
with a fervor i can
hardly imagine or hope
to ever emulate
my ache
is for those close
to them
those who knew them
as more than fierce warriors
but also as tender lovers,
mothers, friends,
humans
how much strength
it must take to share grief
with so many
i wonder what strength
it took and gave
to share them
with the movement
all this time.
narinda heng 