Bruised or Better

Each time I missed it

My knuckles bathed in red

Each time I missed it

My skin peeled another layer of pink away

Each time I missed it

My eyes swam in deep blue

Each time I missed it

My want grew green with envy

Each time I missed it

This tiny ball of darkness stayed abyssal and empty

Each time I missed it

My hands splattered with purple

Each time I missed it

This tiny ball only rolled

Each time I missed it

My colors changed and changed

Each time I missed it

I came back different

Each time I missed it

I wondered

Do I come back better or just bruised

Yet still

Each time I missed it

My dreams glowed in gold

One day I hit it

And yes it’s finally happening

The day I finally hit it

Colors bursted from within

After I finally hit it

The ball opened up for the world to see

The last and final time I hit it

Revealed a small piece of paper saying

“Surprise! You did it!”

What I thought was the last time I hit it

Was not even close to the end

From nowhere in existence

Another dark ball popped out

Same as the last

Nothing more to be learned

Another challenge

Another cruel game to play

The memories from each time I missed

Flowed deep through my brain

I knew how to fix this

Easy as can be

I stood up, a different color

And start walked away

So what if after this time

I came back bruised

That was one dark ball out of many

I’ll find one worth a challenge next time

And from that I’ll come back better