Relentless: A Poem

By: Tobi Best

Oww I get

It all yet 

Again I make

Another mistake

Hmm, fine 

It falls in line

Up it went wrong

Now I am a king

Thus goes man's thinking 

Feeling high then loosely acting

Falling back to his vomit

A moment ago surviving fit

Fastidiously locking in heads

With all hands on deck

Continuous efforts to cling 

Remains the king

'RELENTLESS' is a short poem of four  stanzas and sixteen lines, with the rhyme scheme aa, bb, cc, dd, ee, ff, gg, and dd.

It describes the effect of relaxing or feeling you know it all after completing a task or achieving an aim. 

The first stanza describes an established person making a mistake despite his knowledge.

The second stanza  depicts the process of being established, finding solution to a  problem or attaining a height and as a result feeling so overly joyous ('Now I am a king' line 8).

The third stanza reveals the tendency and  effect of reduced attention after achieving a task. This feeling is common among humans as we tend to be overwhelmed or  get carried away by our present or past success and in some cases we allow pride in. 

Practically, when a student solving mathematics for instance gets the solution to a problem he has being trying to solve there is the tendency of reduced attention due to pride or being overwhelmed by his performance. This makes such a student oblivious to the hidden facts, tactic or avenue for further solutions and making more discoveries. Another instance is when someone is able to discover or invent a new technique or perform extraordinarily in a gathering, field or place of work there is a high probability of feeling on top of your world without being cautious as to ensure you are focused.  The moment we feel this way our efforts become reduced and our performance level drops ('Feeling high then loosely acting' line 10).

In essence,  'RELENTLESS' seeks to caution us not to get carried away by our previous or present success. If we pay more attention we can achieve far more than we have now as the sky is the starting point.

The last stanza of the poem emphasises the message of the poem. 'Lines 13-15' explain steadfastness and line 16 reveals the reward of being steadfast which is being the best. 

Notably, the word 'King' is used metaphorically to explain how we tend to see ourselves when we are steadfast and committed. Although there is very tendency that we might be overly joyous about our present success, but we must ensure that it doesn't make us lose focus or put in lesser effort. The  repetition of 'King' in lines 8 and 16 suggest that we all desire to be the best wherever we find ourselves  and the poem guides us towards being the best. 

We live in a competitive world and we must strive to be the best avoiding a better yesterday and ensuring a greater tomorrow.