By Yael Spodek
Each month, the YU Observer sends a call to YU students for poetry submissions following a specific theme. This month, the theme was “Phoenix”, and we are featuring the anonymously written piece, “Phoenix”. However, the poems below are other submissions of honorable mention.
Your breath is dwindling, your legs are giving up, and your back feels broken. You’re running in darkness that you can feel it’s so thick. You’re running but you don’t even know what from. You’re praying you won’t fall, even though you just want to collapse and sleep. You’re dripping with sweat, you’re so hot you feel like you’re burning, you feel as if you’re going to burst into flames and turn to ashes. But you keep going, you keep running, you keep living. And your life continues as if you’re not running marathon after marathon in your head. You feel like the walls, you can’t even see, are closing in on you. So you start to run faster and faster. Trying to outrun your imagination, trying to outrun your feelings. You see a glimmer of light, a slight bit of hope. And suddenly you regain your strength. Your legs are no longer trembling, you’re able to breathe, and you’re running faster than you ever have. Trying to reach the light, trying to get out and get away from whatever it is you’re running from. Then, out of nowhere, a rushing sensation runs through your body. You almost fall backwards as a gust of air is breathed back into your lungs. You feel reborn. You open your eyes and you’re awake, lying in bed, and ready to keep running. Not running from the bad but running towards the good.