Stressing, sweating, spinning

with my foe

The one I’ve been waiting my whole life to fight

or is it the one I’ve been fighting my whole life?

and waiting…

Waiting for the bell, the permission to step back and breathe

To regroup, to recount my losses and recover them

To have the crowd take its eyes from me for a moment

as I hide my tears

while waiting…

Unseen, unheard, unknown

My foe

The one that I must conquer

Over whom victory is a bell away

This is my foe

the one who looks back at me

Inside me

My foe is without or is it within?

and waiting

Waiting to show me

That my foe is me