the results were back
and
all-of-a-sudden-it-was-official:
you'd won.

crowds cheered,I dropped
my hotdog and
coke, ran
all the way up and down and
up my stairs to let it
burn up out of me and
spit from my mouth:
you were clear you were
free:
you -had - won.

and so what no league tables
changed,
cancer may have viewed it
as a laughably minor victory;
but as I hugged you
-arms that could hold galaxies -
it couldn't ever change the fact
that your smile
was the best
penalty,
ever scored.