The medical burden

Just a short poem inspired by my time at the gym, and how it reminds me of the burden that medicine has on the lives which are devoted to it.

The medical burden

I have been here before.
Seen these walls,walked this floor.
But rather than be greeted by friendly faces
I see the anguished looks of grown men,
Writhing in pain as if condemned.
My reflection calls me over showing what I seek.
Holding my future in my hands I don't leave it to the fates,
Standing in front of the bending bar stacked with familiar plates.
Each one ingrained with expectation,
Though I have bared its burden they stare back mockingly,
As today there are more plates, more doubts,
More questions asked by them, by myself,
With fear of failure adding to their immense weight.
Do I concede, defeated by the sheer thought of its gravity,
Breaking me from outside in, inside out,
Physically, emotionally;
Or do pick up the gauntlet and use my will,
My power, every fiber of my strength,
To raise the the burden up with the heavens.
With my sweat on the walls and footprints on the floor,
I have been here before,
And I will endure; I will endure.