You have humbled me

Bent me

Reduced me

To tears

But not so fast

I am not broken

And I have been

Bent to breaking point

Before and before

But I rose

And followed

The path of proving

What I am made of

I could have

Crumbled and died

Even now

An exhausted part

In me asked

Why go on

To be torn and rent and spent

By mediocre tribes

Who themselves have

So very little

To speak for themselves

Who dare

Evaluate me

But the other part

The one who never quits

Never gives up

Reminded me

Of when

I was bent

Before and many times before

And how I rose up

Soaring in the very faces

That looked down on me

And it was beneath me

Even to laugh

At these mediocrities

And now again

God brings me

To this brink

To this tiring path

Shall I give up

How many times do I

Keep proving, God?

Isn't it time finally

For my reward

But clearly not

For I must yet again

Choose

And deep down I know

I will stay on course

What if I have no reward

To motivate me

The thought

Of proving them wrong

Will carry me

They who think

I am down and out

Shall see me

Rise again

Beyond their

Feeble grasp

~Me