Running

I like to run

In the rain Through the woods

Nobody stopping me, playing

Not to exercise. I am not a runner.

I do not like to run.

A marathon. A half marathon. Sweating, never stopping.

Competition. Torture. Suffering. Stay in shape.

“I ran this far in this amount of time.”

Oh no. Not me.

Because I like to run

For fun.

In the rain, through the woods, with the cormorants and my kingfisher friend

Laughing, flying like spindrift over the Sound.

Fast. Slow. Feet pounding up across the log.

Heart in the sky, with no time to stop me.

Climb a tree, off the trail. Binoculars: a bird.

“Shh”

Moss, pillow soft beneath a hand.

Father tree, sturdy and strong,

Heartwood safe beneath his steady bark.

Home.