Napo 8

I'm falling behind! Will I be able to catch up?
Two poems a day is brutal, but I'll try.
Here's my poem #8, inspired by my run yesterday with my pops.

Sunday Run with Dad

I remember as a child, watching as you’d set out

For another morning run, wishing my legs

Would sprout like beanstalks so I could follow

You into that jungle of streets and country roads,

That place you go to disappear into yourself.

And now I can. Running shoes on my feet,

Hair in a ponytail, my legs always in motion

Like yours. Today, I’m just one step behind.

We’re a pair of shadows separated by a generation,

You with a stoic fatherly silence that fades

To conversation as we pass these miles,

The hours we spend together on the road,

And me, with a heart that can never drink

Enough of you, that knows our time is finite.

Today, we set out for six miles into the sun

That promises to swelter, to turn the distance

Into a shimmering lake, to drown us both

In south Texas heat. You weather everything

With leather skin, a grimace and a groan.

You’ve taught me well: to know your father

Is to know yourself. I’ll always chase you,

Run in the coolness of your shadow,

Hoping to catch up, to find myself

Between the beats of your relentless heart.