Reluctant Hero

Loosely based off the anime Attack on Titan.

wild eyes and brave heart
has anyone ever told you
how young you are, child
little soldier, so afraid
the tremble in your lip
strength of your salute
don't die too young
my reluctant hero

wings of freedom
wings of an angel
is there a difference
when your comrades lie still
heart pounds, legs ache
how can you win
when you're outnumbered
when they're catching up

hold still, little hero;
you're losing this fight

Reviews

[Alexanda Corrin]

Interesting poem. Though I'm not all that much of a fan of AOT and I've only watched two episodes I feel this conveys exactly what I felt watching the first two episodes after all anyone really can be called little when compared to a Titan. I feel that this also summarises the whole human ease against the writ and not just one person, after ally how can you find the will to fight when you've lost everyone around you and have nothing left to fight for!

[Brenda Woods]

Thank you :)

[mattavelli]

Seems the situation is getting desperate. I've never seen the show, but you've given me n idea of what it's about. Thanks for sharing.

[Brenda Woods]

Ah, definitely. Thank you for your review!

[Nikolean]

I liked this one a lot! It deserves an honourable mention!

[Brenda Woods]

Thank you so much!

[a pas-tel tin/ted sur_r..]

First of all, thank you so much for writing an Attack on Titan-inspired poem. Writing and AoT are two of my biggest passions, so thank you so much~~~

Now that that's out of my system:

For whatever reason, I really see this as being Armin more than any other character. It sounds like Eren somewhat too, but the descriptions of him as being afraid and uncertain remind me much more of Armin than Eren. The poem is very well-composed, and I like how you hit the reader with some heavy stuff while still making it very readable and understandable. For idiots like me, that is especially appreciated.

[Brenda Woods]

Yesss, an AoT lover! And thank you for taking the time to find and read this poem!

It's definitely heavily Armin inspired, I'll admit. It's a mix of a lot of feelings about the show for me - but Armin's character was one that hit hard since he's often so vulnerable, as well as his (and Mikasa's) devotion and worry towards Eren.

There's a lot of characters in AoT that get scared, though. Just as almost anyone fighting a war would be.

The starting point for this poem was inspired a lot from these two songs as well - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPNew5WDlX8 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOFhatyCEhQ - don't know your view on english versions of anime songs; but this girl's taken these two songs, as well as the first theme, and made them into rather haunting lullaby versions. Worth a watch. :)

Sorry for the excitement. Been a while since I've talked to an AoT fan :P But thank you for your lovely review, I appreciated it a lot!

[a pas-tel tin/ted sur_reality]

Personally, my favorite character is Erwin. Armin definitely ranks up there for me, however, and I've taken to calling him my son :3

Here's my rant on Erwin...if you don't like him you should probably stop reading this right about now

Erwin seems so stoic, so fearless, so ruthless, but he wouldn't do the things he did if he didn't care. He wouldn't be sacrificing his own humanity if he didn't care deeply and passionately for mankind. He uses his intelligence to make the decisions others wouldn't dare to make because he knows that the only way to help humanity out of the pit it's stuck in is to use soldier's bones as a ladder (weird analogy bleh)

Also idk he's hot xD

[Brenda Woods]

I definitely like Erwin! That being said, I don't think there's any characters in AoT that I dislike. Well - not as far as major characters go, anyway.

And that definitely sounds like Erwin to me - maybe a weird analogy, but very fitting, I think. Both that, and the analogy of standing on giant's shoulders, and building on ancestry and those who came before, which I think is also fitting. Standing on giant's shoulders to fight giants, you know?

Analogies are fun.

My favourite character would probably have to be Hanji. She's such a fascinating character, and her method of coping with things is certainly unique. She provides a much different perspective on the Titans than most people do too, considering she looks at them in a more scientific way, but also often shows compassion or friendship towards them - such as when she got upset over Bean and Sawyer.
I find Marco really interesting, too. He's got that faithful devotion sort of thing going on, where he'll happily look up to someone and follow them, and that's all he needs to keep an optimistic outlook.

What can I say, though? There's a lot of interesting characters. :D

[a pas-tel tin/ted sur_reality]

Hange's my second favorite! And, honestly, it's kind of embarrassing, but when I have two characters I really really love I tend to uncontrollably ship them together?? So yeah, Erwin x Hange has ruined me, basically xD But I get a lot of poetic inspiration from them, so it's not all bad.

[Brenda Woods]

Fair enough! And I say that anything you can get inspiration from isn't actually a bad thing. Inspiration's always great to have :D

[a pas-tel tin/ted sur_reality]

Yeah, I agree. A life without inspiration is a sad one to me.

[SLOVA]

Even though this poem was inspired by Attack on Titan (which I don't watch/read admittedly) , I'm actually very surprised, and impressed, by the level of control and honesty this piece has. You could have numbed the sensation of battle and war with the notion that the hero would win the fight, but no.

"hold still, little hero; / you're losing this fight"

That blatant, truthful reference of tragedy to come really made me reread the poem. I really adore the direction you took. And in a young writer, I applaud the sincerity. I look forward to more of your work.

SLOVA

[Brenda Woods]

Thank you so much! Brutal honesty was definitely what I was going from - some of the music from the show in particular has had lines that really resonated with me; "nobody wants to die too fast" and "how can we win, our foe is gigantic" in particular. It's definitely a tragic show - with foes that are bigger, stronger, and outnumber the heroes, so that's what I was trying to show.

Thank you so much for your review!

[SLOVA]

You're very welcome. Keep it up.

SLOVA

[Jamestown]

Great piece of work! The wording is great and imagery to parallel:)
Thanks for sharing and b-blessed!

[Brenda Woods]

Thank you!

[WindsorWolf28]

This is amazing! Great job!

[Brenda Woods]

Ahh, thank you so much!