Momentum Origin

Deebeedeedee! Deebeedeedee! Deebeedeedee!

"Come on! You're gonna kill it, buddy!"

Victor slaps himself three times
Hops on his toes 
Boxing shadows.

"Ssh, ssh, ssh, tomorrow up at 5am.
Cold shower, meditation, bam!
Three pages of journaling
One hundred kettlebell swings
Ten Turkish get-ups. Hah!
Max rep on pullups. Pow!
Write blog post number one,
Hit publish, call it done."

One should be spellbound
By these two hundred pounds
Of bursting willpower.

Except it's 3am
And the wardrobe mirror
As many times before
Begrudgingly reflects a scene it knows too well.

The worn-off socks and green undies
The scent of ashtray and melted cheese
Another paused video game
Casting shadows on the mayhem.

Victor wants success
Deep down he has known this for years
But he binges on the side-quests
Loses himself in the fringes.

He wants to walk to the summit
Yet won't suffer a step
He wants to win the fight
Without one adversary met.

"Anyone can make it!"
Say all the books he reads
Didn't Rocky train for three minutes
To go beat Apollo Creed?

Victor doesn't get it.

There is nothing sexy
In transcending one's identity.
You have to accept your own death, for what it's worth,
And on the other side, no promise of rebirth.

Friends and family
Turned crabs in a bucket
Will defend their reality
Scared of the fire you've set.

It is a relentless struggle
Against an old mechanism:
Designed for survival
Everyone's ego will stand firm.

Considering the massive task
It seems reasonable to ask:
Before considering the climb,
What if Victor woke up on time?