By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr.

And now
you must be
deeply relieved,
even thankful,
for such great
release –
now,
you have only
your own personal care
to mind;
now,
you have
the rest of time
to sleep and
oversleep
and rest
and relax
and join
the great feast
with the great ones;
for you have cheated
defeat as well as
the looming fear
of defeat,
and now
the greedy
bastard couple
are beside themselves
with shame
and ignobility,
for they have been forced
to pretend
they were full of
goodwill
for you –
and now,
their dreams
of shaming you
have turned into
heel-licking flames
of rabid hounds –
yes,
you have cheated
friends and
foes alike,
you have left them
heavy-hearted
and anguished
over their own
mortality,
you have also
been cured
of all your
worldly cares,
and now
you are fully set
to go
in a grand
style
like the
elected king
that you were
by the very skin
of your teeth;
for such
is the sweetness
of success won
in a bloody
street-fight;
a narrow victory
and then
the sweetest
of its kind –

7/27/12