We Fight For Beauty

We fight for Beauty.

I read a story
of two young Ponca girls
whose uncle would show up
once in a great while
as they grew up.

He was an admirable warrior,
a man who fought in wars...
and they were always curious...
"Why do you fight?" they would ask.

"We are Ponca. We fight for Beauty,"
was his answer.
His struggles for the Beauty within
were too much
and his body surrendered to alcohol,
his heart surrendered to no one
in his struggle for Beauty.

The Beauty I raise my fist for
I know intimately,
and barely know at all.

What Beauty are you willing
to fight and die for?