THE OVERCOMER

By Tessa Harvey

 The tightrope walker paused,
                                        and stilled 
         Below, the abyss
           plunged
                         to almost
            fathomless depths
          where water glinted.
                 There was no wind
        -----  what then had caused
          the thrumming in the tensioned rope?
                He looked ahead to 
             the other side and his heart
          skittered as he saw a shadow slip
                       beyond the anchor
                                    to his great rope,
The rope he had checked
              and re-checked and 
             secured himself.
          Again the tension
           flickered in the wire. He
          felt the tremble and knew
  he was lost - to his enemy, to himself,
     to his family, the world

      Unless ----
                       and the unless
            yawned before him
                     beyond possible
                                        NO...
       He could,
                        he would do this.
He ran as he had never run before
          on the flawed rope
    faster and faster
              over the threatening 
                                   void
doing the impossible
          in a leaping
           whirlwind of 
               determined power...
He reached the ledge
    and ran before
                this enemy
          could push him over.
And the rope had finally snapped
            and fallen,
       but he had not.

With one swift blow
       he felled
    his enemy, laid him low, 
  and he
             the victor.
  Then, and only then,
        he trembled 
                 and sank down,
                    exhausted.

His friends ran forward
     to surround him
          with strength,
     to revive him with
      prayer, to take away
                   the man
        he had finally overcome;
to be the man he had finally become.

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