Better

Better

By Tara Nicole Walker

9/7/2001

My heart beating,

In my chest –

I need to stop,

So I can rest.

Yet I press on,

Once again,

Trying to prove,

I'm better than them.

Muscles aching,

A deep thirst,

Yet I'm determined,

To come in first.

Head throbbing,

While joints creak.

I'm at the tip,

Yet another week.

I cannot stop,

For a rest.

I have to prove,

That I'm the best.

This is the drive,

Of my life.

It cuts my soul,

Like a knife.

My head says stop,

My pride says go.

Which way to turn?

I do not know.

Pushing myself,

To my limits and beyond.

Working so hard,

I do not bond.

I have to prove,

That I am better.

All the way down,

To the very letter.

This is the struggled,

That I pursue.

I often get there,

This is true.