#2.25.21

full thread

February 25, 2021

February 25, 2021

Briana posted this on her Instagram!

running, sprinting, bounding

it's dark and my feet are pounding

the pavement echoes back beneath me

can't stop running, won't let it defeat me

where am i running to? where have i been?

how many people are chasing me? is it one? is it ten?

my hearts pounding, eyes darting and my lungs aching

but i can't slow down now, i've got to out pace them

who are they, where are they, how do i know

if i'm safe to stop sprinting or should continue to go?

but honestly, running is all that i know

i turn and see me, the chaser, my foe.

face to face, eye to eye - why can't you slow down?

do you fear that your feelings will make you drown?

that your anger will burn deep into your soul

and where once was a heart will become a hole?

you can run forever but the one who tires is you

you only have one body, you can't start anew

so when your knees creak and your feet ache

and the ground beneath you begins to quake

remember that you could have slowed to a walk

perhaps even a stroll, god-forbid--a stop!

if you took a breath in and looked all around

at the stillness, the lack of motion and sound

you'd see the poetry and the magic is within

your brain, your heart, your wit, your grin

but when you are running your magic is strangled