It was a thin line you were walking
and you were sure to trip.
Isn’t it a relief, then,
that it was sooner
and not later?
Are you not glad
that the tension
is off your shoulders,
your calves?

Balance
is no longer your concern
the careful needs of so many different masters
having to be catered to
all at once:
speed and pace
and form and finesse
all at the same instant

for so many consistent instants.
Are you not pleased
to be freed
from all of these?

Isn’t it good
to be able to rest
st last
after all this time
and all that work
to just finally
be done?

Answer later
if you ever wake.