Watching success burn

They stepped up, voice thin but steady,

a flicker of light caught in shaking lips,

the classroom's bright glare burned down hard

and applause cracked the silence like glass.

In their proud, scared eyes

I saw a storm I couldn’t name—

a sharp, hollow thing gnawing

where relief should settle like soft snow.

The fear came sudden, unbidden,

not of failure but of what comes after,

when the applause fades to nothing

and the road ahead hums too loud.

I held the moment like a live wire,

watching success burn

and the quiet ash fall

before the next step.