POEM - RUNNING

when I think back on it
I just don’t know
what the hell I was thinking.
running
I began running
in the third grade
and kept with it
through graduation
track and cross country
pre season and post season
in the freezing winters
and the steaming summers
five miles
ten miles
I was just running
all the time
I wasn’t running from anything
or to anywhere
just out on the trails
or on the side of the roads
I wasn’t chasing after anybody
or running from the law
just running
and with all that running
I was in great shape physically
but a lot of good it did me.
now I’ve got bad knees
and a bad back
and I know I’ll never
be in that kind of shape again
and when I think back
on all the time I spent
running around
I wonder if I wouldn’t
be better off
to have been practicing
the harmonica
or learning how
to survive in the wilderness
or maybe just sitting on my ass
reading a book