Success

By Ananya Manglik

“How ever do you do it?” Death asked.

“So many souls give up,

Yet yours still shines bright and strong.

How hasn’t it dimmed in the darkness of your world?”

“Hope,” she said.

Paper thin and indestructible,

Flickering but not dimming.

“Faith,” she said.

Childlike and larger than life,

Playing quietly next to me.

Unforgiving, unchanging and unmerciful.

That is how success is fashioned,

with a surprising strength and unrelenting power.

That is how success is grown,

From seeds of peril, held firmly by roots of hope.

That is how success is born,

From sacrifices, dirt caked nails and calloused fingers.

Death nodded, understanding.

“That is how success is won,

By getting hope and hard work to fight

Side by side.“

By Ananya Manglik