Winning is the anthem of every conscious body,
The pulse crusading through our veins,
The force that has our minds by its reins,
The flame that burns in our eyes ceaselessly.

Winners are everything and the only thing that we are meant to be,
“Swing higher,” we hear in playgrounds at five years of age,
“Jump higher,” we hear in courts when we enter the basketball stage,
“Aim higher,” we hear in life for every situation, needlessly.

Winning, we are told, through sunrise to the early hours of twilight,
Will take us to a place where the dark loamy soil is richer, the Sun is brighter,
Where the mangrove forests are thicker, the tiny petals of the lily are whiter,
Where the mortals become immortals and nothing is infinite.

Competitions, they say to us, are ways to become indestructible,
And since becoming indestructible and winning are the sole goals of human life,
We push every cell and every muscle in our body against unparalleled strife,
Pushing harder, even when our glucose and glycogen stores start to null.

The unimaginable shame of not being the winners that we were told we were,
Coerces us into becoming better and stronger with every passing day,
Fearlessly, we blossom and flutter in the breeze like the beloved buds of May,
The fires of determination and courage adding to our petals more color.

What we aren’t told, however, is that winning is subjective,
Using dishonest methods to win the race doesn’t make the Sun any brighter,
Cheating during a test doesn’t make the tiny petals of the lily any whiter,
Lying to win, doesn’t make you immortal, it makes you immoral and deceptive.

When the monsters have devoured the last rays of sunlight,
When the monsters have extinguished the fires in our eyes,
When the monsters have deafened our souls with their cruel, cruel cries,
We realize that we, the winners, are these monsters, hiding in the shadows of the night.

“Winning shows that you are better than your competition. It is everything,” they say to us, with care,
From a place where the dark loamy soil is richer and the Sun is brighter,
“Trying harder shows that you are better than you were yesterday. It is everything,” we say to them, louder,
From a place where the smiles in our eyes are wider and the monsters exist only in nightmares.