Metaphor I Poem by Sophia White

Life is a slide.
You climb up, you fight to be first.
You end up last.
You get a black eye.
You don’t care.
You go down – whee!
But then look where you are.
The bottom.
So what do you do,
You bright, clever thing?
You run right back around
And do it again.
What’s the use?
Look where you end up every time –
The bottom.
Then it’s another black eye,
And when you run out of eyes,
It’s your ear, your nose,
Maybe your front teeth.
You stub your toe on the way up.
But you keep climbing.
Oh! They tell you.
You’re so persevering!
You try again and again!
Like Churchill said,
Never give up!
You are so brave! They say.
You carry on thinking you’ve the world to conquer.
You reach the top and think you’ve conquered it.
Veni vidi vici! You cry!
And then – throw yourself down the slide.
Whee! You shout.
Then BUMP! Look where you are.
Yes.
The bottom.
I ask you why?
Why climb again?
Why waste your eyes
Your ears, your nose?
Your front teeth?
Why fool yourself with that false victory
And throw yourself down
Down – down – down –
BUMP!
To the bottom.
Why?
I’ll tell you why.
Because as long as you’re down at the bottom –
You can still go up!