sometimes hunger feels like a quiet oath a vow to choose intention over convenience to guard the hollow spaces that shape us rather than fill them with what numbs the ache the world rushes to offer easy answers but i wait, holding my own slow silence choosing the careful path over the crowded one even if it means walking with only my shadow there is a power in deliberate emptiness in refusing to settle for what bruises the spirit in trusting that loneliness can be a teacher and that patience sharpens the voice within i stand in this stillness with a steady spine knowing what i refuse shapes what i become