Running

Written October 10, 2010

Sandals slapping on the sidewalk
The chill wind whipping at my face
I’m running away from another day
Running towards the night

I stare out the window
Stare at the clock
I’m checking my watch out
And the cell phone clock

The teacher’s a- droning
I frown at my page
There’s lines of poetry
And patterns curving up the margin

Surely that can’t be right
Surely she’s talking sums
Surely there’s something somewhere
I’m required to listen to

But the window’s open
The chill winds a- beckoning
And I’m wondering what I’m doing inside
On such a lovely grey evening

The hall clock ticks on
I turn another page
And my pen’s a- doodling
In a hundred different colours
And a hundred different pens
On a page covered with sums

The hall clock strikes
The door opens
The chill wind is in the room
Teasing my hair
Asking me out

Sorry guys, gotta go
Maybe another day, this will go better
Maybe another day I’ll do
What I was supposed to do in the first place
Perhaps tomorrow I’ll leave
With a coupla dozen sums in my head
Rather than a coupla poems in my book

And I’m running down again
Down a familiar walk
Away from something I don’t remember
Running away from yet another day
Running towards the night

I turn the corner
I turn around for one last look
But the fog just rolled in
It’s all gone already
Just like it never was

I run to the bookstore
Can’t really stop to stay and talk
Maybe just for a little bit, though
Just me and the books
Locked in our own little world

A world where sums cease to be important
A world where success is in the mind
A world where I’m never alone...
A world where the run stops

The store clock is a- ticking
My little watch is beeping
I’m half way through the book
And outside the wind calls out to me

I’m running out the door
I’m running away from life
Away from another day
Running towards the night

I get to church on time
I pull my jacket off and smile
At everyone else on the choir
I sing my heart out tonight coz
Who knows how long this will last

I smile at the girl in the front pew
She’s here with her dad
I wonder what her story is
And whether she knows what it's like

Coz it ain’t easy running
Running out on a chill night like this
It ain’t easy running on heels
Running back home

The chill wind’s a- biting
My jacket ain’t helping
Why am I running down this road
Again and again, like some one
Just hit the replay button

I arrive home panting
And run up the stairs for show
Mum asked me where I’d been
I told her I’d gone running
Running for my life

I pull off my jacket
Sink into the tub
I close my eyes and dream
Of running down the road
Running into the fog