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Running to chase the sun. Zion Bell's poetry explores the feelings of being "The Third Brother" in his family. Bell's poetry was voted as a thrid place winner in May 2024 by his peers.
I run as fast as my legs will carry me
Yet all I hear is the echos of their steps
Two shadows stretched ahead growing more distant
Their laughter even more distant ringing in my ears.
They soare with ease, while I must fight to climb
Each muscle honed, each motion sharp and sure.
The world stands still to watch their victories,
While I’m left to trail behind
Unseen.
Their coach calls their names with voices bright;
Announcing them like gods come alive.
I stand beside them nodding with a grin
As hands reach out to pat their backs not mine.
“You’ve got their blood,” they say shaking their head
“You’ve got their name, you’ll be there soon enough,”
But I don’t want to be there soon enough
I want to stand beside them.
As More than just the next in line,
The third in line the one who always follows
Never leads.
I watch them get draped in medals, bathed in cheers.
Their triumphs shining in the noonday sun,
And I a lesser star behind them.
And I’m left to flicker in their shadowed light,
They do not mock me, they never turn me down
They train with me, they push, they pull, they teach
But I still feel all their strength pressed on me.
A mountain that I cannot climb.
At night I hear the whispers in the halls,
Our father voice his pride thick in his mouth
“A gift…those two, born champions, through and through
And him he’ll find his way.”
I don’t know if he believes those words,
Or if he simply says them to be kind.
I bite my tongue and swallow anger.
I hate the way they make it look easy,
How crowds erupt when they’re on the field.
How even when I win they shine much brighter,
And yet when they turn back to cheer my name,
When hands pull mine and lift me from the dust,
I burn with rage and pride,
A fire that feeds upon itself and grows
For I am strong but not in the ways they are
My fight is harder, longer, and never done.
Yet still I run, run to chase the suns
And someday they will be chasing my light.
Zion Bell is a senior at Rock Creek High School. He entered a school poetry contest last year and his fellow classmates voted blindly and choose his poem as the 3rd place winner. The poetry winners were annouced the first week of May of 2024 and winners received a gift card and gave permission for their poem to be run in the school newspaper.