Strive

There's a THUMP, but I feel more than hear it, because I'm already gone, faster than the sound can catch me. I try as hard as I can in this first burn, climbing into the sky with just a hint of the light that's coming.

I'm slower now, starting to feel spent, but laughing at the irony that something as small as I was could ever get so much attention.

I'm clawing my way up into the sky, visibly exhausted, but still trying desperately to get that _one last inch_ of air, that last bit that will make sure that everyone sees what I can do.

In the instant before I explode, you might ask how I could ever have gotten this far and done so much: I didn't save anything for the return trip.

I put all that I've got left into the light that spreads as I die.