The Starting Line
When you becomes I
You …
are the masterpiece that draws breath from the morning,
a breathtaking constellation of light and intensity,
beautiful in every way that defines the meaning of a life.
Your presence is a sudden rush of colour
painted across the greyest of days.
You …
move through the world with your wild grace,
the fierce, quiet strength settling in your shoulders,
the untamed brilliance sparking in your mind,
a river carving its own magnificent path through rock,
refusing to be anything less than an absolute force.
You …
know the world can sometimes feel heavy on your chest,
casting long, stretching shadows of anguish and doubt,
but I need you to know the truth of who you are,
standing at the edge of what feels like an ending,
so, before you take another step,
take a deep breath and look closer.
You …
are not seeing a finish line waiting for you to arrive.
It was never a wall built to stop your stride.
It is the starting line.
The grand, vibrant, brilliant starting line
of a new and wonderful race.
You …
need to see with different eyes, it is yours to claim.
Every step, every heartbeat, every horizon
opening up before you, outstretched for your arms to embrace.
There will be mountains carved by jagged obstacles,
and valleys deep with unforeseen challenges,
but I know the steady, unstoppable fire inside you.
You …
will break through.
You will outpace the shadows.
You will win this race, over and over again,
because your spirit is too vast to be contained.
You …
must believe in you, my dearest friend,
more fiercely than the oceans believe in the pull of the moon.
Run with everything that you are.
Your future is a wide-open sky.
No one knows this better than you.
Stop standing on the sidelines
cheering you on like a spectator,
come to the starting line and see it for what it is:
the beginning of the rest of your life.
©Thomas Crandall, 15 June 2026
You: excellent work! Yes!!