Running Through Life
He/she started as a baby
He/she ran with parents,
Holding hands in a green forest
He/she started dressing fancy,
Going to celebrations
He/she was running through life....
He/she started to grow up
They felt the need to run faster
Their life would fly by before them,
If they were too slow
As the runner could see
The stages of life in front of them,
On the sidewalk
Moving by the faster they ran
Now older, less childlike
Now more mature, less childlike
Now more thoughtful, looking at things
In a different way than before
Living in their family’s home
They are looking out the window
At the trees and houses,
Across the street
The light shines in through the open window
Wind blows,
Symbolizing the passing of time
He/she runs some more
At relative’s houses
Grandpa, grandma
Aunt, uncle
Cousin
At their family’s home,
Mother and father
Scattered memories from times
With their grandma and grandpa
Scattered thoughts of what it was like
To be in their house
The runner slows down
Their life is passing by them
Too quickly
Where is it all going?
They are older now
Sitting at their desk in a carpeted room,
Still in their family’s home
The sun shining on them from outside,
Open window....
They must be doing homework
He/she runs some more
Some of the same memories as before
They missed out on some stuff, on some things
They would have loved
They missed out on some friends
They would have loved
They missed out on some years
They would have loved
He/she missed out on
What they could have been....
What they could have been interested in,
With others....
The runner stops on the suburban sidewalk,
Houses of life all around him/her,
The shining sunlight makes them see
Pictures of them and their family
Sad now....
He/she wonders where the memories
Of the times have gone....
The pictures one of the last ways,
To remember what happened....
He/she must run more, even if they don’t like it
Even if they don’t like
What they find....
The pictures vanish and go away from memory
More life he/she sees before their eyes
Going somewhere they went many days
When they were younger
He/she sees them self stand outside,
Across their house of the past,
With a backpack on....
The fall leaves of the trees
Making it look like
A beautiful memory
The tree that gives off the leaves flow behind them
The tree that gives of the leaves stands behind them,
A reminder of where they once lived....
He/she sees the trees go away,
And the street
The memory continues
Playing with young friends in a forest,
The nature around them
Three of them are pretty girls
The rest are boys
They smile and laugh together,
Running down a hill, where there is no trees
A playground....
He/she looks into a memory of the distant past
A few friends, people playing with
He/her is unsure what to make of it
He/she runs more into the future, leaving the past for now
In the future
Is an unimportant time,
They don’t care about
They got nothing from that time
They got nothing they ever wanted from that disappointing time
He/she runs further on the suburban street,
In the summer day
Hoping to find a future,
More important to them than that unimportant time
But what they find
Is uncertainty
What they find
Are scattered thoughts of the past around them
Family pictures of times long past
Pictures of friends in times long past
Pictures of people they wanted to be friendly to,
In times long past....
And past memories, presented before them, and playing all at once....
A bit of a leaf ground....
A bit of fall trees....
A bit of a fall forest....
A bit of a river....
A bit of a bridge....
A bit of rainy day,
Where something special happened
Their friends in the forest again
The smiling, joyful girls,
Their smiling, joyful selves,
Happy to have their friends there for them....
Too much life is replaying before their eyes
And with an uncertain future,
They don’t know where
Or how fast
To run
He/she collapses to their knees
Let out a desperate scream, of being overwhelmed by their own thoughts....
But the past memories still play around them in a circle,
Holding them in like a shield....
Trying to protect them from their future....
They rest on the pavement....
Looking at the thoughts on their side,
As they lay flat on the ground
They realize they are watching them
Simply pass them by all over again
The pain is unbearable
Something that pulls them down
And holds them towards what they don’t want to forget about,
And what they love to imagine
Pulling them down,
To their own preferred reality, in a future
They never know
If they will ever achieve, or even meet....
They only have themselves now, no family or friends left
And they don’t know
If that will be enough....
They feel that it won’t
And that fear breaks them down
And they start crying,
Stopping their run through life
Stopping them dead in time,
With nowhere to go from here
They greatly
Are starting to fear
They have nowhere to run to in their life,
Anymore....
But they must do something to continue....
The memories and thoughts guiding them strongly,
Greatly,
Both the good and the bad
The positive and the negative parts of them,
Helping this person,
Him/her
To move forward
To run forward
To sprint with happy glee
Knowing that their future can be
What they make it
And if it isn’t,
At least they had the willful power
To try....
At least they tried....
To make a bright, alive future-
That resembled their pasts-
The pasts that seem so distant....
The pasts that are almost not real....
The past that he/she
Wonders if it was ever real in the first place....
If they could have ever MADE IT REAL to begin with
Or, if it was out of their reach of fate,
When they had been born....
They run with the unreal, distant memories and thoughts
All around them,
Helping them as the friends they no longer have,
And maybe never had to begin with,
To run thoughtfully into an unclear future....
In front of their eyes....
He/she sees a wonderful future
A wide-open view on the deserted street
A lovely future, one that they had always dreamed of,
Coming true before him/her,
Thanks TO THEIR OWN WILL,
And the past “friends” that are helping them achieve it....
And then,
They will keep trying to run,
Even if it is uncertain to them
Because they have their friends, and family,
Of the past,
Supporting them,
If only in his/her mind....
That comforting enough, for him/her....
That’s enough for him/her, they think, for now....
And hopefully,
IT WILL BE ENOUGH FOR THEM,
IN THE FUTURE THAT’S WAITING FO THEM TO REACH IT,
The future
They are desperately, faithfully hoping, with all their strength, to run towards, into....
ONE DAY....
He/she thinks, brightly
AT LEAST THERE SEEMS TO BE
ONE RAY OF SUNSHINE ON A CLOUDY DAY....
NO MATTER HOW FAINT AND FADING,
THAT RAY OF SUNSHINE SEEMS LIKE ITS BECOMING..........
OVERTIME...........