The One Legged Soldier | Teen Ink

The One Legged Soldier

December 21, 2012
By Soven Bery SILVER, Basking Ridge, New Jersey
Soven Bery SILVER, Basking Ridge, New Jersey
9 articles 0 photos 0 comments

We wrestle with our own opponents on a daily basis-
I started wrestling with my opponent when I was born.
It never bothered me, though.

Everyone faces challenges in their life
This was my challenge.
I will overcome.
I will be unstoppable.

God made me this way for a reason.
I lay everything I got on the mat,
Like a soldier in a far off desert
I’m not missing out on anything.

Through pain I will not complain.
The mat is my battlefield,
It is uninviting but I am attracted to it.
By the grace of God I am capable.

I will bleed.
I will sweat.
I will cry.
I will overcome.

My mother raised me strong,
Strong enough to get off the mat after a defeat
But strong enough to stay on it after victory
Nothing is impossible.

God made me worth something,
My spirit isn’t handicapped.
I live and die on the mat.
I am fearless.

I thank God for giving me what I do have, not what I don’t have.
My opponent is a double-headed monster:
It is inside me and on the mat.
But I am capable.
I will overcome.

I am unstoppable.


The author's comments:
Anthony Robles is a wrestler who won the 2010-11 NCAA wrestling championship despite being born with just one leg. This poem is in tribute to him.

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