The Fight That Never Was

They thought there was a fight.
That to be a man meant to clash, to dominate, to prove.
But the only true battle was never with them.
It was with the self—
to stand before my own depth, to see myself fully, and not flinch.

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Most men drag that unfinished duel into the world.
They turn their unmade peace into noise,
their unclaimed shadows into contests.
They ask others to fight the war they will not face inside.

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But once I stood before myself and did not look away,
the battlefield vanished.
There was no opponent left to conquer,
only presence to inhabit.

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That is why I walk in peace.
Not because I fled the fight,
but because I discovered it never truly existed.