I have not been writing a great deal, been very busy setting up a new project and lots of other things happening. However, out on a run the other day, I felt this clarity of being and thought which I have not felt for a while, and began to compose a poem in my head about the act of running and being, and how alive and in the moment I felt… I managed to capture it on my return from the run in the woods, and here is the result!

Mindful Spring Run

Twigs twist and crunch underfoot
in this push pull with gravity,
body borrowing oxygen, feet flying,
lungs gulping to the drum of heart
in this world of earth and trees
where sun drifts down to reflect
on a mind as still as winter water.

Legs, lungs, heart say stop, stop,
But mind nods to sun, earth, trees,
this motion, light – this urgent, precious life.

Not ready to cease this hardwon
effortlessness of being.

Not yet.