Hello again readers!
I know this is my second post this month, but I'm keen to upload this one.
In my last post I mentioned that May was my least favourite month of the year, and while there are many contributing reasons, this is one of the main ones.
Today, the 27th of May, marks the 5th anniversary of a life changing event that I experienced. Five years ago, I was on a school tour with my class mates in Secondary school. We went to an activity center across the Irish border, in Northern Ireland. I won't give any specific details.. But basically, what happened was, I joined my friends on various obstacle courses in both water-based and land-based activities. I could safely have said it was the time of my life.
That was until we went to do an archery course. I genuinely thought that meant bows and arrows.. But I was wrong. Instead, it was a course with activities such as swinging like Tarzan and walking on wired lines... I came to one specific activity, it was a leaping activity. What you had to do was, stand up on a metre-high platform and jump from it to another that was only inches taller. The only thing there to assist the jumper was a rope, hanging in a noose-like fashion.
I don't know what I was thinking at the moment I stood up on top of the platform.. I genuinely don't think I was thinking at all.. Which is unusual for me!
After moments, I decided to jump.. I had not thought it through, or even judged my precision very well. While in mid-air, the rope escaped from my grip and my foot never reached the other platform.. And, as a result, I went tumulting down on top of the platform. It's edges were blade sharp and sunk into my right side, before my body fell helplessly onto the wood-chipped ground.
I remember trying to talk.. The instructor that had been only feet away from me throughout, squatted down and told me how to sit to ease the overwhelming pain I was feeling. I remember trying to tell him I was sorry... Sorry for gripping his arms and slitting his flesh with my strength.. "Sorry" was the only single word I managed through my fight for oxygen.
My class mates were watching this.. I felt like an idiot, crying.. or half-crying... The fall had knocked the wind out of me and I was struggling for breath for what felt like hours.
That's not where the story ends.. But everything that followed that has a tendency to annoy me, considering how badly it was handled. Sorry, should I say, how I was handled.
So.. I finally put the experience into a poem. I'm not sure if I like it as much as I hoped I would.. Maybe my expectations were a bit high.
Here it is anyway, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.. :)
Resilience of the Fallen
When you stood upon that podium, with your head high in the clouds,
You obviously were not thinking clear.
And you leaped on to something you wished to reach,
But you never actually got there.
Instead you took a different route,
And went tumbling to the ground.
The experience was so breath-taking,
That you couldn't even make a sound.
Onlookers threw foul words at you,
And kicked you while you were down.
But you stood back up and showed them
That, you didn't even drop your crown.
Not only did you get back up,
But you continued to walk with pride.
Despite the injuries that were taunting you then,
From deep down inside.
Now you know to always look before you leap,
Because, otherwise, you know you'll only get hurt.
But, you can keep your head high in the clouds,
As long as you leave both feet firmly in the dirt.
24 May 2015
I know this is my second post this month, but I'm keen to upload this one.
In my last post I mentioned that May was my least favourite month of the year, and while there are many contributing reasons, this is one of the main ones.
Today, the 27th of May, marks the 5th anniversary of a life changing event that I experienced. Five years ago, I was on a school tour with my class mates in Secondary school. We went to an activity center across the Irish border, in Northern Ireland. I won't give any specific details.. But basically, what happened was, I joined my friends on various obstacle courses in both water-based and land-based activities. I could safely have said it was the time of my life.
That was until we went to do an archery course. I genuinely thought that meant bows and arrows.. But I was wrong. Instead, it was a course with activities such as swinging like Tarzan and walking on wired lines... I came to one specific activity, it was a leaping activity. What you had to do was, stand up on a metre-high platform and jump from it to another that was only inches taller. The only thing there to assist the jumper was a rope, hanging in a noose-like fashion.
I don't know what I was thinking at the moment I stood up on top of the platform.. I genuinely don't think I was thinking at all.. Which is unusual for me!
After moments, I decided to jump.. I had not thought it through, or even judged my precision very well. While in mid-air, the rope escaped from my grip and my foot never reached the other platform.. And, as a result, I went tumulting down on top of the platform. It's edges were blade sharp and sunk into my right side, before my body fell helplessly onto the wood-chipped ground.
I remember trying to talk.. The instructor that had been only feet away from me throughout, squatted down and told me how to sit to ease the overwhelming pain I was feeling. I remember trying to tell him I was sorry... Sorry for gripping his arms and slitting his flesh with my strength.. "Sorry" was the only single word I managed through my fight for oxygen.
My class mates were watching this.. I felt like an idiot, crying.. or half-crying... The fall had knocked the wind out of me and I was struggling for breath for what felt like hours.
That's not where the story ends.. But everything that followed that has a tendency to annoy me, considering how badly it was handled. Sorry, should I say, how I was handled.
So.. I finally put the experience into a poem. I'm not sure if I like it as much as I hoped I would.. Maybe my expectations were a bit high.
Here it is anyway, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.. :)
Resilience of the Fallen
You obviously were not thinking clear.
And you leaped on to something you wished to reach,
But you never actually got there.
Instead you took a different route,
And went tumbling to the ground.
The experience was so breath-taking,
That you couldn't even make a sound.
Onlookers threw foul words at you,
And kicked you while you were down.
But you stood back up and showed them
That, you didn't even drop your crown.
Not only did you get back up,
But you continued to walk with pride.
Despite the injuries that were taunting you then,
From deep down inside.
Now you know to always look before you leap,
Because, otherwise, you know you'll only get hurt.
But, you can keep your head high in the clouds,
As long as you leave both feet firmly in the dirt.
24 May 2015
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