Excellence

by Michael LaRocca

“Settle for nothing less than perfection,”

my father always said.

I listened.

Every single day,

working for his standards,

and not my own.

To the point of living a lie.

I was anything but what he wanted.

Darkness cast upon me.

What he saw as the blooming flowers of success,

I saw as the terrific weeds of anguish.

I could not bear it any longer.

Brushing them out of my vision,

I confront him.

“No more will I live in your shadow.”

I have a realization.

It was his goals that led to catastrophe,

and mine,

to reality.