• She stepped one day
    Into a field of game.
    Remembering what it was like
    To be beyond the fence,
    Snacking on pretzels and beer,
    Cheering for her country to take back
    The gold that was rightfully their's.

    Twenty years later, she sees herself,
    As her daughter watches so anxiously,
    Shaking and mouthing the words,
    "I love you."

    A tear of sweat rivers down her
    Coldly nervous face,
    Frozen in the excitement that
    Warms the air.
    Her earthbound feet
    Shaking until all is over.

    A sudden shot!
    The crowd jumps,
    And the runners are off.
    She's between the runner from Japan,
    and the runner from Mexico.
    She kicks her feet so fast,
    Yet her confidence remains low,
    As she hops the first hurdle.

    She looks to her right,
    Then over to her left,
    And right again,
    Knowing that her dignity
    Will never surpass her.

    She sprints and runs
    And jumps over each hurdle,
    One by one,
    They slowly decrease.

    In a whole crowd of citizens
    From all over the world,
    Her ears notice one sweet, sweet sound,
    And over she looks, her girl encourages,
    To never quit.

    She dashes over each hurdle
    And suddenly, she drops, groaning in pain.
    She can't get up,
    Every other runner passes her,
    And she has failed.
    She does not finish first,
    But, she finished.

    What is her name?
    What matters the most is that
    Her country will forever remember her as
    A hero.