Click.
There it is. My article was just released
into the unforgiving network
that is the internet.

Once it’s approved,
there’s no telling what will happen.

Like a lost child,
it wanders the vast world,
icy wind biting into its exposed flesh.
There’s no telling who will come across it,
who might beat it to a bloody pulp
and leave it dying in the dirt
Or, who might welcome it,
give it a home in their hearts,
save it from being nothing more
than a meaningless speck
on the landscape.

Like a leaf in the wind,
it spirals, along with
thousands of others just like it.
It could, like many others,
fall to the ground
to be trampled upon and
never noticed again
Or, a bystander
will casually glance up,
purely by chance,
and see the unique beauty
of that particular leaf.
No, it’s not much,
nothing much more than a look,
lasting only a fleeting second,
but to a leaf, what more
could one want?

Like a small sardine
in a group of millions,
it moves in unison
with the rest of them,
forming a single, powerful beast.
For it to live out the rest
of its days like this
would be more than enough,
never really noticed,
but remaining safe and alive,
ever full of promise.
The weakest of the group are targeted
by the sharks, the harsh, stinging words
of possible viewers
and are destroyed,
never to swim freely again.

How is one expected to shine
among so many others,
all striving to be noticed?
It would have to be someone who really cared,
who took the time to analyze and comprehend
the emotion and power
behind my words.

Someone…like the first one to comment.

Something as simple as ‘I love it!’
Or ‘Awesome :)’
But I appreciate it all the same
More than they will ever know.