Victory isn’t always sweet.
Sometimes there is a hollowness,
A deadness, in the way that you feel.

Callously, you turn your head,
You hollow your heart.
You brag to your friends,
“Look, they had it coming to them.
. . . I handled it well, didn’t I?
I showed them what I was made of.
They won’t mess with me again.”

Your friends nod.
Maybe they join in with your chorus,
Adding reasons and stories
To justify your actions
(and their own hardening).

Or maybe they turn away
(with the turn of their stomach).

Something has been forgotten.
You could call it compassion.
The knowledge that there is no “one right way”,
but human-ness is more important.

Touch your trembling heart.
Let yourself weep for the separation of victory.
Then, let’s begin again,
Rooted in virtue and (more importantly)
An ever open heart.