Running Child
Fraying the edge of sky she runs
Desperate to reach the future
To keep aheaad of what chases
Parents, sisters, babies, you, me.
All to be outdistanced, outpaced
In the frantic dash to be first
To anywhere that is not here.
Coat open to a winter wind
Billowing like a parachute
She runs into herself, gulping
Life into lungs filled with the new,
The space only she inhabits.
Stops, turns, panting, watching. Hurry..
Now she needs the world to catch up
To show how she has outrun time
While we pace our slow marching stick
Strides to follow her fast footfall.
What will she find that gets her there
An instant early? A breathless
Quiet beyond what others feel?
A burst of possibility
Too fresh to let slip in the past?
Oh, I envy her tiny time
Go. Run. You will never be caught.