Loss is not

When I was a kid, I always looked up to superheroes in action movies. Sometimes it was Captain America, other times it was Batman. As of last week, it was Lucius from Gladiator 2. I was and always will be a sucker for the characters you want to be, or want to be led into battle by. 

I truly believe that the only real-life place you can consistently feel that way is in sport. Given it is competition that invites these moments, there are exceptions, but sport is the immovable object. It provides you a platform to compete alongside teammates or occasionally have your own ‘main character’ moment. 

So, I thought it might be fun to try and write my own inspirational-esque sporting speech; similar to the ones that make you feel like you want to ‘run through a brick wall’. But, under the theme of competition, I set myself the challenge of writing it in poetic form. This is how it turned out…

Listen

With your ears to me, 

But your eyes to them.

Feel

Not the breeze on your fingers,

But the opportunity in the air.

Today is.

For the first time in your life,

You do not serve you.

You serve us.

We will not

By our past successes,

But our immediate dare.

We will not

By the names on your backs,

But the emblem on our chests.

Fight for the struggled hours,

Not for the glory of history.

Eternity’s pen is earned;

Let it echo out.

Where we are, loss is not.