The Race by Sharon Olds

When I got to the airport I rushed up to the desk,
bought a ticket, ten minutes later
they told me the flight was cancelled, the doctors
had said my father would not live through the night
and the flight was cancelled. A young man
with a dark brown moustache told me
another airline had a nonstop
leaving in seven minutes. See that 
elevator over there, well go
down to the first floor, make a right, you'll
see a yellow bus, get off at the
second Pan Am terminal, I 
ran, I who have no sense of direction
raced exactly where he'd told me, a fish
slipping upstream deftly against
the flow of the river. I jumped off that bus with those
bags I had thrown everything into
in five minutes, and ran, the bags
wagged me from side to side as if 
to prove I was under the claims of the material,
I ran up to a man with a flower on his breast,
I who always go to the end of the line, I said
Help me. He looked at my ticket, he said
Make a left and then a right, go up the moving stairs and then
run. I lumbered up the moving stairs,
at the top I saw the corridor, 
and then I took a deep breath, I said
goodbye to my body, goodbye to comfort,
I used my legs and heart as if I would
gladly use them up for this,
to touch him again in this life. I ran, and the 
bags banged against me, wheeled and coursed
in skewed orbits, I have seen pictures of
women running, their belongings tied
in scarves grasped in their fists, I blessed my 
long legs he gave me, my strong
heart I abandoned to its own purpose,
I ran to Gate 17 and they were
just lifting the thick white
lozenge of the door to fit it into
the socket of the plane. Like the one who is not 
too rich, I turned sideways and 
slipped through the needle's eye, and then
I walked down the aisle toward my father. The jet
was full, and people's hair was shining, they were 
smiling, the interior of the plane was filled with a
mist of gold endorphin light, 
I wept as people weep when they enter heaven,
in massive relief. We lifted up
gently from one tip of the continent
and did not stop until we set down lightly on the
other edge, I walked into his room
and watched his chest rise slowly
and sink again, all night
I watched him breathe.

                          Sharon Olds
                          from The Father (Knopf, 1992)

Comments

[Liv]

I love this poeeeeem! I saw it on my AP Lit&Comp test and it just perked me right up

[Yelithza]

I LOVE IT TOO!! ALMOST MADE ME WANT TO CRY!! It was one of the best poems I have read and it was a great choice for the AP English Literature & Composition exam :) <3

[Alex H.]

this is seriously an amazing poem!

[dancer]

this poem was on my AP test as well
having gone through the exact same thing with my own grandfather....it was an amazing, wonderfully written poem, i think one of my favorite poems

[Aisha]

Hey Alex, supposedly we're not supposed to disclose what was on our AP test! HAHA, I don't know why though, I mean it's not like we can go back and change it...

[Aisha]

Oops, that was to Dancer** sorry

[marisol]

i wanted to cry when i was reading this for
my AP english lit exam <33 it was so touching i had to look it up

[Stacey]

Thank you all for commenting here about Sharon Old's poem. It is a wonderful, moving poem and I wrote about it and posted a link to a wonderful reading of it here

I would love to know the specific question that was on your AP exam and how you answered it.
Stacey Harwood, Managing Editor

[William]

This poem was really great. It was on a test I took recently---really emotional and inspiring.

[Anonymous]

Ms. Harwood, we aren't at liberty to discuss the questions regarding the poem. However, there were various questions regarding the poem's interpretation, etc.

The poem truly was amazing, and a great choice by Collegeboard.

[Marie]

God, I love this. i really felt what she was describing to me. after taking the exam I had to look it up.

[Anonymous]

this poem stuck out to me when i took the AP & when i looked it up it was neat to find out that it was written by sharon olds. her poetry is pretty great.

[Lizzie]

I also saw this poem on the AP test and I looked it up right after. It suck out because it was the only passage i actually understood.

[Becca]

MOST EPIC LIT TEST EVER!!!!! I fell in love with this poem at first read. <3

[hannah]

can someone please explain, what its truly about, it made me cry cause of her dying father, but then i got lost on it

[Ladedlock]

The questions that were asked about this poem weren't especially difficult; I only had to read it once to understand. But it was such a sincere, beautiful poem that it brought tears to my eyes.

[Adam]

I straight up broke down crying while reading this during my comp+lit test...this poem changed my life.

[Cheryl Bryson]

What a touching poem. When my daughter died it was sudden with no time for goodbyes. That is the one thing I will always wish for.

[Rudolph Jokovic]

Absolutely excellent, many surprises.

[Paul Dickerson]

Just heard this on BBC Radio Four's 'Something Understood' programme. Beautiful.

[Elbert Swartzendruber]

"The Race" is in a book of poetry my dad gave me before his death in 2008. The poem is still alive and moving in my heart. Just now, i sent one line of it to a friend who just lost her mother. The friend drove 800 miles overnight to be with her when she entered heaven.
The purpose of poetry is to help us find beauty and meaning in life and in death. It can let us find joy and peace in the face of death and loss. The Race is a true masterpiece by Sharon Olds. It will live as long as there mothers, fathers, sons and daughters.