The rain flies down to meet the grass

Dewdrops springing up like

Children running back inside from the brewing storm, energy growing

Agitated, laughter souring, becoming whines

Higher and higher until you can’t hear them at all.

They want to be outside

They tell me and I smile

Doesn’t everyone want to be free? It pulls me back

To the days of skimming the grass

Dirt paths leaving remnants of an embrace on my sun-weathered calves,

Running too fast to notice, too fast to care about

Anything other than my heartbeat

The eternal drum

I danced to its rhythm but I never listened until I stopped moving,

And I grew frightened, for even as I was quiet the pounding echoed in my

Ringing ears and heart which used to be free and I knew

Time would leave me behind as I left behind my thoughts when I raced along the beaten path

Among the butterflies.

But I did not want to be wise

For the slow drops of understanding would fill my mind but dull my bright eyes,

Whisking the world away from me each step I slowed down.

And so I ran once more, the sweat dripping down my eyes convincing me that

The sun wouldn’t set until I had followed the dirt path to the ends of the earh

And reached the sky

But I never did.