To run in darkness is to touch the night

To run in darkness is to touch the night.

Quiet bodies moving lithely,

Cushioned and smoothed: Reebok on asphalt,

In an unlit LA driveway,

As a down-to-the-street-and-back

Piece of this evening’s workout.

And here, in this safe little patch of shadow,

I think of what it must have been like

To run in the dark a long time ago.

With lives, perhaps, dependent on

Your hard, striding effort and breath hammering.

Feet slipping, enemies closing.

To run in darkness is to touch the night.