Five for Flight

We all play.
To this drumming sound of bouncing heartbeat,
With the desire of war and triumph in our eyes.
We all play.
For different reasons,
most of the time reasons unknown and unexplained
Sometimes even to our own heart.
But you can feel it even without description,
on cement, gravel, or wooden grounds solid as reality,
You can feel the world fade away
to the rhythms of our drumming, shoe screech, and screams.
Beyond glory, beyond fame, beyond wealth.
Even beyond what you can find between the sexy thighs.
You say it’s chemical in my brain.
I don’t deny it.
But that is but a droplet in the tide.
On the court,
between the pair of five souls,
one goal.
There is only failure and success.
If you can remember that,
Clench that ball in your hand,
make that jab step, laser that pass,
weave into the fray, launch the bomb.
You might falter, lose, fall, and miss.
But if you are stubborn like us.
You go back and do it again, again, and again.
Until you can do it faster, stronger,
with more alacrity and accuracy.
Until you can defeat your enemy and your old self.
Until you are better.
Not all of us will sprung up like magical beanstalks to reach the sky.
But better is our version of flight.
Call me an egotist.
I play, because I want to win,
Against myself, against doubt and fear.
For that croaked smirk on my face,
For the cheers of friends,
For the suspense of the next basket.
We play, because we believe.