When I am done with running
The race completed well
The James will continue flowing
Some days high some days low
Some days brown some days blue
And the unpredictable
temperatures will continue
To frustrate the downtown workers
Hurrying to the cafes and restaurants
for a bite and a kiss-and-tell
The inchworms will have to find
another to hitch a ride on
when my shoes stop crunching
through the trails by the river
And the sun will still fall
at impossible angles through the old trees
And the fishermen on Mayo Bridge
will keep on baitcasting for smallmouth
The streets will swell with rush hour
And the medical students in their blue scrubs
will speedwalk from church hill, late for class
when my lungs have done their job and done it well
When my blood has finished doing laps
these Spring days will still go varying
Twenty degrees, cold or summer swell
The space I borrowed to run in
the trails I travelled fast
with no hurry, will still persist
I learned their distances well
The miles will run themselves
