No regrets
No regrets
6am. I open the front door to the frozen air,
The silent, dark street beckons.
Exposed cheeks tingle with cold,
Frigid fingers fumble into gloved cocoons.
I'm cloaked in a mist of my own making.
My breath takes form and clouds my sight.
I await the connection tethering me to circulating satellites
Beep. I take my first icy step.
Frost rimmed leaves crunch and shatter,
Brittle fragments scatter to the north wind.
Street lights glow, mirrored in stone hard puddles.
Black ice, black night.
I step carefully, cautiously,
My eyes glued to the slippery surface,
Like a snowy owl searching for prey.
A mis-step and I myself become prey to the silvery skeins of ice.
Leafless arboreal limbs in silhouette scar the brightening sky.
Rising, reaching toward the pale amber glow of dawn.
Their myriad patterns reminiscent of my own bronchial trees,
Warming the frigid air that I greedily inhale.
Here comes our glowing star.
How patiently we must wait as it bides.
The epitome of steady pacing.
The ground turns beneath my feet and draws us closer.
A spear of dazzling light pierces the horizon and I am aglow.
A twin materialises ahead of me
His long, spindly legs worthy of a Dali painting.
We are joined not at the hip, but through our soles.
On, on, on. Warmth radiates within,
Flushing my cheeks crimson like the cotton candy clouds above.
I could have missed this in the lure of the warm sheets.
Again I am reminded: you never regret a run.
