Look at their faces—amused and anxious, all Each one thinks I’ll shatter When I finally fall Face first into the sea before me… roiling with rocks, slippery with moss not soft enough to usher me through without a broken bone or two. I wish it would just envelop me—swallow me whole So I wouldn’t have to rise So unlike the phoenix To the shouts and cajoles and cries Barely audible in my concussed mind. Shaken and battered I’ll be—that’s fine I just hope my ego will be with me When I cross the finish line… Last.