It's been a long time since I have had the pleasure to read one of your poems! More my fault since I have been away for some years. Anyway, I am glad to see that you are still writing and that your talent has not diminished at all.

Moving on to the poem, your story is impressive and a little beyond my understanding, I think. Your first part of the poem speaks of a formidable opponent that this person has to overcome, yet they are daunted by this person and even discouraged by their might. The last part is more telling of you, the writer. You make yourself to be an unnoticed adversary while you gather your strength to oppose this person. Perhaps the first opponent mentioned is the "misdirection" that you are spreading to get the main person's attention off of you while you are preparing to challenge them and show them who you really are. I'm sure there are many better in-depth ways of describing the poem, but at my current level, I find my description the best for what I take of the poem.

The poem was a great metaphor, and even with my poor understanding, I was still able to enjoy the message I received from it. The poem flowed quite well and had a great word choice. I especially like the phrase "divine shield of barbed wire". The imagery is quite beautiful, and it also gives me images of knights from the past and the dignity reminds me of the honor these knights had.

All in all, I am glad to see you are still apart of this site, sharing your wonderful work, which I have always looked up to. I hope you continue to write and learn from it. Great job and keep writing!

While I tangle myself in a divine
shield of barbed wire, untouched -

I loved this part so much. Nicely penned as always :] miss your writing! -Nik