It shouldn’t have happened to me

but it did

A backhand to the side of the head
Slapping my puffed-up pride

setting me apart
for failure

Alone but convincing myself otherwise
Self-interest has lost control
Failure came not of losing
but of hubris
and self-absorbed disappointment

Yet if properly ordered
I may return to humility

only then

Can my pride defer to love
Perfected singularly in meekness
So to serve You humbly