My cheeks hurt.
My eyes water.
My mouth is dry.
From the smiling.

My throat burns.
My voice is strained.
My chest is sore.
From the laughing.

My head is throbbing.
My mind is clouded.
My muscles ache.
From last night.

My smile hurts.
My laughter is fake.
My evenings are blurs.
From forcing it.

The crowd is singing.
The crowd is moving.
The crowd is happy.
From my parties.

Twilight is dancing.
Rarity is giggling.
Rainbow is rejoicing.
From my efforts.

Applejack is beaming.
Fluttershy is twirling.
And I
don’t have to force it.
From friends like these.

Author's Note

I'm sure this was unexpected coming from me.

I wrote these poems purely for myself over the past couple of years whenever my life became turbulent. I never had any intention of publishing them until alaoel and SecondPrances encouraged me to reconsider. So, I gathered some of the pony-related ones, touched them up a bit, and gathered them here. As a result, a lot of these are more personal than my standard fare, and they're probably harder to follow as well.

Still, I greatly appreciate each and every one of you that took the time to read this in spite of how different it is from my usual work. It really does mean a lot to me.