Everlasting?

By Rida Sayyed

I was going down the winding road,

knowing I was bound to fall. 

But knowing there would be a ribbon awaiting me

at the finish line, where my dad could be glancing at his watch,

 I had to run. 

I tripped and fell--who tripped me? 

I didn’t see her face; it was blurred. 

she passed through me like a wind, knocking me off,

I sat, figuring out what went wrong--

my knees scraped; my palm had scratches

 from stones that embedded in my skin.  

Soon I stood tall and ran once again.

I was getting out of breath, 

my throat deprived of water; my feet blistered. 

I waited to catch calm’s refreshing breath, 

which was running away from me,

filling my thoughts with arguments 

I didn’t want to hear. 

I closed my eyes, took deep breaths.

 Then soon I heard birds singing,

Blocking the voices from my head.

 I ran and then started walking, 

my feet hurt too much, 

I whispered to myself, “I’m done.” 

there’s a ribbon, I could see. 

I started running, feeling hope 

fill my soul to the brim. 

But I saw that ribbon cut off by the guy I didn’t know. 

Hope shattered from a person I didn’t even know. 

But there’s my dad; I could see him. 

Spreading his arms for me, 

His smile as wide as the sun

 just risen from the dawn. 

His eyes filled with pride, 

and mine filled with tears.

I ran to him, sobbing, saying,

 “I tried my best.

He quoted a phrase I’ll never forget:

“You are great because you challenged a race 

in which you knew you’d stumble along the way”

By Rida Sayyed