runner up

when the treasure loses sparkle 

when the trinket has some spines

like the mighty saguaro 

the treasure has less shine 

when you're the runner up 

and the trophy is not as large 

as the one they gave first place

but you didn't try as hard 

when you run out of reasons 

or you're winded from the chase 

and it all seems less important 

that's the answer that you gave 

when you mean more to you 

than anyone ever could 

and you leave the others hurting

thinking you're misunderstood

Poetry by M.J.B. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.