The Marathon Poem by Ruta Mohapatra

From pole to pole, the runners ran,
From oblivion to oblivion, and in between,
Such efforts to leave a mark,
On the shifting sands of time,
That retained no footsteps!

Such pains they bore so gladly,
Just to be a little better, a little faster,
A little higher, a little stronger,
Than the others,
All in vain, all in vain!

In the end, fate waiting,
In its dusty arms gathering,
All the winners and the losers,
And nothing is heard again,
About the run and the runners!