At the 1984 Summer Olympics
in Los Angeles, a marathon miracle occurred,
a marvel of distance and persistence,
struggling, disoriented, vulnerable,
Gabriela Andersen-Schiess
did not win gold, but won the stadium,
as witnesses to loss and triumph,
their hearts breaking and rising together,
joined in the same Mass
of human frailty and fortitude,
seeing the spirit, naked and grotesque,
her limbs cramping and contorting,
a puppet on its last fraying string—
the body on its own crutches;
dying, and refusing death.
The Finish Line our own beginning.