TBT: Perseverance

Bones aching,

muscles screaming,

sides hurting.

Yet you keep on.

People passing,

one by one,

on and on.

Yet you keep on.

Discouragement pressing down,

doubt creeping in,

fear striking your soul.

Yet you keep on.

You hear a sound.

It grows louder.

It is cheering!

You keep on.

It’s getting closer,

coming up quick,

a flicker of hope.

You keep on.

You cross the finish line.

You collapse on the ground,

sides heaving.

You kept on.

This is perseverance.

Background:

I had forgotten about this poem until looking back through them recently. As I was typing it here, I realized that the image of struggling and hearing a crowd in the distance, cheering, shows up in several of my more recent poetry ideas. Some images just stick with you.

Do you experience this feeling - I’m not sure how to explain it - where certain ideas that become intrinsic to you, absorbed into who you are, have a certain flavor in your mind, a certain feeling tied to who you were and to the time when that idea was a theme weighing heavily upon you?

It is good to reflect on some of those deeper ideas forming the bedrock of who you are and what you value - test them. And, if they are solid, relish them.

Wishing you goodness without end,

Jess