I Know Why He Runs

 

I know why he runs

 

He wins at every step

 

A victory in every racking breath

 

One foot in front of the other

 

There are little snaps in time

 

In which he leaves the ground

 

Flies high and can’t be touched

 

By his defeats, futile earthly things

 

The stuff of life is mostly dirt

 

On no-run days it builds and clings

 

 

 

I know why he runs

 

Sitting he’s unheard, potentials never met

 

Garners fat and failure on his bones

 

Nerves that squirm in skin walls he screams

 

Limbs have turned to wire rage for more

 

At speed he has no face, can’t be stopped

 

In a purging sweat he is a blur

 

Boyhood dreams of flying, invisibility

 

Achieved, when nothing else is right

 

He goes, burns up the fight or flight

 

 

 

I know why he runs

 

Pushing pain, twisted face

 

Hurting takes him somewhere safe

 

Inside his engine stirs, jumps alive

 

And when he’s gifted with the flow

 

He’s high, he goes and goes

 

Running with the angels now

 

On higher planes, he knows

 

He’s only dust, still he blazes trails

 

Carves through suburbs sealed

 

I know why he runs