If podium goal can wait -I
If the goal of the podium can wait,
I choose the modest, low-hanging fruit
To free my soul from a long suffocating state,
And restore my spirit to its whole from the root.
This is a tale of long-distance running,
Chasing personal fitness free from a medal’s mirth,
When I want to give life the agile feet of spring,
An authentic expression and self’s rebirth.
Why should I endure this goal-oriented gauntlet?
Let me stay far from this all-or-nothing race,
I prefer as a prize the faceless crowd’s pat,
Seeking a podium push nor yet gold-chasing stress.
When a fast-paced life gasps for a fresh breath for soul,
Freedom from competition offers a new birth.
The crossing of a goal-line is no longer the goal
If a race exists, it is for my heart and hearth.
The world grows quiet around my heavy breath
Drowned out by my shoe-soles’ rhythmic slap
On ground, in whose cadence I see chaotic world’s death,
Leaving only the truth of my next forward step.
________________________________
Reflections | 03.08.2026 | ambition, analogy, competition, goal, prize, Quatrain
Note: This piece reflects on competing with the self with an aim to improve rather than winning a medal, taking an illustration of long-distance running. The lines of the quatrain with varying lengths follow a relaxed rhyming rhythm. The narrative continues in part II.
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