The Fastest Shoe

~JennWren

Once, I was the fastest shoe.
You should’ve seen the boy —
new laces, wild joy,
zipping through the store,
yelling, *“Mom! Watch me soar!”*

We were a pair —
two soles with a mission,
burning playground rubber
with toddler precision.

He believed in me.
Said I made him *fly*.
Belief, you see,
is better than wings —
it makes small boys defy
everything.

But now…
Here I am,
marooned and weathered,
one half of a team
no longer tethered.

No foot to fill my soul,
No match beside me in the sand.
Just me — laces limp,
washed up on foreign land.

Where, oh *wear*, is my twin?
Where’s the rush, the spin,
the boy who believed
that I could win?

I am a sneaker,
but more than a shoe —
I once held dreams.
Now I just hold dew.