u/mckram44

Whenever I try to see anyone else
all I find is your dark hair caught 

in the corner of my eye. Reluctant
tears that streak down my left cheek

like the mascara I left on the inside
of your wrist. Your curved spine: 

a heavy backpack that fit everything
but me—set down gently. I see you 

from a distance and recognize you
from your gait—a half-scared jackrabbit 

with a drumbeat heart. I would
have paced down that highway forever.

I try to synchronize my breath to the elliptical motion of 
the sidewalk. If I can match my pace to the Earth, 
it might be possible to        

keep going.
Keep going.
Please keep going. 

I sprint through a red light. The city slides by: 
a dream of a deserted place. No water so I eat 
dandelions—bitter tasting survival. 

I run past a goose, they look me in the eye—
stunned into stillness. An animal that spends 
their life travelling between inhospitable places. 

They hiss, then are silent;
 their beady eye:

a pinned black hole;
endurance that is beyond me.