Resilient, composed July 10, 2022

He is not pristine, nor is he charismatic.  He is not mighty, though by much toil he has honed his natural litheness.  He is surrounded by tension, noise, chaos, and distraction.  He appears as from a night of war—rugged scars covered by his dense orange wiry pelt, their true severity masked for him to keep face.  He bears not the silky elegance of princesses, nor the sheer innocent elation of Cinderellas, not even the homeliness of his mate and daughter.  Yet as he emerges from that night, the dawn rises to meet him, its first rays shining his tale and his portrait’s title…Resilient.