Not Sickness Stains the Brave,

Not Sickness Stains the Brave, - meaning Summary

Wounds of the Heart

This short lyric argues that bravery is not damaged by illness, attack, or uncertainty about the future. Instead the speaker locates what truly wounds the courageous in an "adjourning Heart," implying that loss, separation, or emotional withdrawal undermines fortitude. The poem compresses a moral claim: external dangers and doubts are survivable, but the retreat or absence of intimacy corrodes the brave from within.