An orange is sweet juicy fruit locked inside a bitter peel. That's not how I feel about a challenge. I only want the bitterness. Its coffee, its grapefruit, its licorice.
 
 
 
It feels like we're closer now, composer and climber, designer and user. You could have refused but you didn't. There was something in you that was hidden, that chose to continue.
 

 
 
It means a lot to me that you've come this far, endured this much. Every wisecrack, every insensitivity. Every setback you've forgiven me is a kingly gift you've given me.
 
You fell from above but I know you won't linger here. Your hammer's no longer, your jump is no stronger, but your hunger will tell.
 
 
 
 
We have the same taste, you and I. It's not ambition. It's ambition's opposite. An obdurate mission to taste defeat.
 
You'll feel bad if you win, so I put this snake in for you.
 
This gets more frightening each time you return. Knuckles whitening, stomach tightening, once bitten, so many times burned.