Float Like a Butterfly….



Image credit: google: allposters.com

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee

So Muhammad Ali, the great boxer, once said

In my mind I can see the butterfly

All merry, the wings, the colour

It is there in the boxing ring

The crowd is roaring, urging on

Some covering their faces, the pressure is mounting

The bell is rang, the stage is set

Inside the suffocating ring, the butterfly fights for air

But no one cares if the wings might drop

But float it must—

You see, that choreographed anger

Comes with a price tag

Those simulated invectives

Are a part of the scheme

A cover-up

Either way, beneath that anger

Lies much anger against the ‘arrangement’

Where the organizers of the bouts smile

All the way to the bank

So, float he will,

And he must,

Inside the ring, so many things could go wrong

Knocked-off canines, bloody noses, fractured cheekbones,

Bleeding ears, lacerated foreheads, raptured brain cells

But the crowd will cheer on

“Go on, Muhammad, go on, finish him off!”

Never aware of the pressure on the mind to concentrate

One micro-second of lapse to earn a blinding blow

One miscalculated killer punch to send one off-balance

One mishearing to earn a disqualification

They call this a livelihood, puts food on somebody’s table

I don’t understand it, I mean I empathize

Then after floating like a butterfly

It is the sting, it is that jab, it is that punch

Anger levels rise within permitted levels

“Go on, Muhammad, go on, finish him off!”

Assume, just assume for one moment

When I have rained blows on my opponent

I remove my gloves, look upon the crowd

And walk away, away from that assured glory

Press will write, “Mad Muhammad Muddles”

With that my boxing career is given a knock-out

With that headline, I am cast in bad light

Not even the hours upon hours of lifting weights count

Not even the morning run count

Not even the more than 15 years matter

My titles, my championship wins, my awards

Lose meaning

When I win, everybody else wins

When I lose, only I and I alone loses

But still I have to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee

Image credit: google: worldgallery.co.uk

C) Lorot Salem 2011