Andi Van den Berge

Take it easy on yourself

Isn’t that what I’m here for, doc-

Can you show me what I don’t know?

what it means to not find fault in perfection

like my mother-about my body

the way I chew

I’m grown now and I keep my distance

throwing medals backwards

They don’t belong to me

I keep a distance between

people I need to dress in smiles

I need a place to rest but

I never could get my muscles not to twitch

I only knew how to pick up the pace

Sprinting hard- I want the distance grand

because even if you could catch up-

you’d have to pass all my trophies

Only then you’d catch me and

you could be proud, but not me

One day I found where I dropped my baton

found purpose by mistake

I picked it up, I started to run home

with an urgency of something

I needed to survive.

I got there and fell to my knees.

The little girl stared back at me

Eyes locked, I asked for what we needed-

Can I give you a hug?