The loneliness was like a blanket now. It was wrapped around me like a beggar in the streets, and I desperately clung to its raggedness. It was all I had. I had no physical possessions. Once a stallion of great power and strength. I was known as many names when I was upon the throne, some bad and some good. Never had I been a bad King. But now.. now I was no king. I had nothing to me. I had no title, no one by my side, when I once had it all. I had the kingdom as far as the eye could see. The rolling grass over the hills, it was still very fresh in my memories. Just as fresh as her face. As it popped into my mind, I felt a dull ache grow in my heart. The pain that she had brought me, it was a painful wound. All the other ones, the women, who had left me I held no anger, no pain, no remorse for their health or what have you, but her.. she had always had my heart. And now she had everything that I had worked hard to have. I wanted her and the kids to have it. I wanted her to be happy, because I knew her forcing herself to stand beside me was too much. It was too much for me to see her affections were forced for me, and clearly given to the other man. He could have her. Because that was all she wanted. And this was all I wanted. To start new.

My feet traveled a unworn path. They tasted the soft lips of the grass beneath my feet, and it was all new. I was so used to traveling the worn, safe path. Perhaps it was time to change that idea. I needed new things in life, and I thought I might try the unbeaten path. Just to see what I might find. And on this particular day, I found myself in this forest at the base of this mountain. The pines raised high into the air and the world seemed larger than even me. I was no small creature, I was a leviathan with muscle, height, and pure size on my side. But I seemed small compared to these trees. Just how ancient were they? I wondered as I stopped and raised my head. My black hair fell around my ears and rushed into my mane, as my eyes traveled the expanse of the tree. To its very tippy top. It was a long, tall climb. Something I would never accomplish. My eyes squinted as I viewed a black bird at the top. It cawed a few times, it was barely audible down here, but still I heard it. Just before it leaped off the branch it perched it looked down. Right at me. I blinked and stared back, just as it looked away and jumped into flight.

It was freedom that it had, and freedom was something I constantly wished for. And now that I had it. I longed for the community and the togetherness of herd life. I inhaled and exhaled. And so that was life. No one was ever truly happy. You could only go at a slow pace, merely one day at a time, to please ones self or those around you. Looking into the future was too much and would trouble you, and only discourage your faith in happiness. But if you could please yourself in the here and the now, then you could be happier over all. Or so I would like to believe..