A Little Healthy Competition
After the enemy is beaten
you can see
he's just another guy,
more or less
like you,
uncomfortably enough. . . ,
As he packs it in, he looks weaker,
smaller and vulnerable in a way
that makes you want to touch him
somehow. . .
which his game face, retreating,
would never permit, so
the protest is registered
and remains silent
in the throat
as usual. . .
Later, dully, you ponder
how even victory leaves
a hole in the heart.
Inevitable, it would seem,
in a world where one is always free
to choose compassion, yet
even when within arm's reach at times,
can no more change another's path
than, by throwing a rock in the water,
move the course of a river.
After the enemy is beaten
you can see
he's just another guy,
more or less
like you,
uncomfortably enough. . . ,
As he packs it in, he looks weaker,
smaller and vulnerable in a way
that makes you want to touch him
somehow. . .
which his game face, retreating,
would never permit, so
the protest is registered
and remains silent
in the throat
as usual. . .
Later, dully, you ponder
how even victory leaves
a hole in the heart.
Inevitable, it would seem,
in a world where one is always free
to choose compassion, yet
even when within arm's reach at times,
can no more change another's path
than, by throwing a rock in the water,
move the course of a river.
Les Reed poems
pen and ink by David Reed, 2006
