Reflections on a morning run, March 27, 2010
Athens, Georgia
March 2011, revised June 23, 2013
Athens, Georgia
March 2011, revised June 23, 2013
Yes, I remember
how it was in spring
to set out in darkness and ease
into the light pace that takes
you nowhere
and home. How paved roads roll
easy underfoot, as stride by
stride
you stretch through strength to
joy.
How brisk east wind blows cold
on sweat
through muscle and marrow and
deeper yet
to cleanse the body, unburden the
soul,
to shed all distractions and
fall into flow,
in silence the mind to step out
of time –
to
stride the high plains
under
African sky
in searing
noon heat
bold
predator, I
to run the
wild beast
through tortuous
lands
where Eden
is naught
but hazy
mirage
that
hovers beyond
uncountable
dawns
with
history’s tears
still
yet to be shed
no
burden of why
nor what
lies ahead
eternity’s
now
impressed
on my will
inside
of my heart
on
glistening skin
in deepening
breath
the
freshening wind
for immortal
am I
till the
moment I die
or run
out my race
and
reenter time –
where asphalt
yields to open fields
and far across a waking
park, white halos of pear
blossom hover against
silhouettes
of a treeline emerging from dark,
pale
spectors of spring in the soft morning
light,
which harbors a
spirit
attempting
to soar
escaping the darkness
encasing
our core
in primitive peace
