I run to feel alive
       I run to be free—

I run away from loneliness
       I run toward solitude

I run for the hills
and into the wild, 
through meadows, up mountains, past rivers, 
atop canyons and gorges, 
to the sea and back

I run from the gleaming of treetops and alpine peaks 
down to the shade of forest floor and valleys of shadow

I run on rocky ground and knotty roots, 
on sandy paths and singletracks 
on dirt, asphalt and gravel 
on bike paths and railroad tracks, 
on volcanic ash and rock 
on cobblestones and bricks, 
on broken glass and fractured shells 
on animal tracks and ancient footpaths
I run on ice. 
 
I run across roving pastureland 
and barbed wired ranches 
open desert and gilded mesas 
broad savannahs, sweeping grasslands, 
and swaying prairies bursting with wildflowers
I run across town and all around
through graveyards and refuse heaps,
past smokestacks, mills, and quarries,
down main streets and boulevards, 
past mansions, bungalows, tenements, and shanties

I run through alleys and into dead ends.

                    towering canopies of trees 
I run beneath
             and between majestic snow-capped mountain ranges

I levitate above and 
                    liberate myself from the lucid linearity of sea level life

To chase dreamscape treeline fantasias at 10,000 feet.

I run to the precipice of despair, pulsing, teetering—
then run to find home again
and again.

I run at the breaking of a new day 
in the splendor of a bright afternoon 
toward the quiet of fading twilight 

I run in my dreams

I run with two pounding feet and one beating heart
I run through throbbing arches, blinding knee pain,
stubbed toes, and fractured selves
with frozen lashes burning, dripping 
into sweat-pierced eyes
I run with two bodies. 

No whether to weather:
in pouring rain 
       whipping wind
             frigid sleet and heavy snow 
                     and scorching heat, 
                                        Still—

I run.

Pure physicality, strength, momentum:
my shivers turn to sweat 
my body glides through dormant landscapes 
of dimmed resolve and doubt

I see my breath take shape and dissolve— 
merging with embodied air

I run to discover infinite space
               to find my sense of place
                       to uncover the layers of time and trace
to bear witness to a rhythmic landscape of decay and rebirth

I probe the porous boundaries of emotional, physical, and mental states
to quiet the mind and arrive—
at stillness in motion.
 
I run in the dark
illumined by the sparkle of stars, streetlights, or the full-bellied moon

Sometimes eye see nothing at all. 

I run to sift and to synthesize 
for Attunement, Alignment, and Enlightenment

I run to be my body
I run to transcend my body
I run to endure my body

I run to achieve grace and fluidity
to be carried by the energy of Being and Becoming

I run to hear the sounds of nature and— 
sometimes no sound at all

I run to mingle the cacophony within 
with bird calls, breath, and blowing of the wind

I run with bears, mountain lions, goats,
deer, sheep, wild horses, dogs, cats, coyotes, 
wild turkeys, rabbits, bobcats, mice, 
rats, turtles, frogs, squirrels, skunks, spiders, 
mosquitoes, flies, bees, butterflies, geese, 
ducks, roadrunners, robins, snakes, and crickets

I run from youth toward middle age
I run to ruin and into trouble
I run until it doesn’t hurt anymore.

I run to find myself
I run to lose myself

      I run past my past 
into my present
             toward my future

I run into the uncertain and the unknown— 

I run for my life

© Rachel Rosekind, PhD, MLIS