Running

Running.
Keep running.
These words I tell myself.
Have to keep running,
until there's nothing left
I'll drop.

I have to keep going.
So much to do.
Can't stop,
can't drop.
Keep running.

My world around me
a disjointed blur.
Freeze frame images,
imposed on black abyss.
Smeared faces,
garbled voices
haunting melodies.
Lull me on my way.

Entering the sunny plains
Memories and sensory
images flood my face.
Aromas of past delights,
flickering rainbows
of dancing lights.
The meadows flowers beckon the sun,
give it light and
give them shine.
Into the trees I run.
Into the darkness there in.

Still faster I go.
Faster and faster,
can't stop.
can't slow.
If I slow I'll die.
If I slow I'll cry.
Not enough time though
to look around me,
but I can see where I've been.
A hellish nightmare,
of twisted paradise,
and shadows.

KEEP RUNNING!
Into the gray moonlit
crags and gorges.
The pale light,
painting everything
in dark blues and blacks.
Little clouds I see ahead.
I run.
My footsteps pound the stone.
Suddenly laughter again.
From on high.
WHO'S THERE?
Laughter.

Ignore it. It will go away.
It builds to a roaring laugh.
Why do you laugh?!
It's me...
I'm laughing.
At myself?
It's me....
Keep running

Out of the gorge.
Into the dark.



Little light.
My pattering feet.



No images, or sounds.
My puffing breath.
It's chilly.




New footsteps join mine.
Slow.





Methodical.





Heavy.




HAVE TO KEEP RUNNING!!!
DON'T LET HIM GET ME!!!!!
RUN FASTER!!!!!!
I WON'T LET HIM GET ME!!!!







Running still through the dark.
The footsteps fade to an echo.
Still through the unknown.
A new place for me this is.
No guide.
No light.
But no shadows either.
Black.
Unknown.
Where am I?
Lost inside my head.
Eerie music wafting out.
Indecipherable.
Omnipresent.



Running.
Still running.
Feet aching.
body aching.
Mind blank.
still running.
But slowing.

Can't keep running forever.
From what?
From whom?
To where?
Why?
So many answers.
So little thought.



A light crests the rise.
A hill.
At the peak I stop.
A long road lies before me.
A high way.
Dotted with mountains,
and valleys,
sunshine and shade.
My future.

I can't see the end.
Or very far at all.
Obscured by haze,
blurry by heat and rain.
Life goes on.
From the dark.

Behind me there are footsteps.
No great beast,
no monster,
no fiend.
Just me.
And those footsteps.

I stand here.
Out of breath
and weary.
Standing at a wall.
Like words of a bygone age.
This path that I have chosen,
has lead me here.
My world is changing,
my past being left behind.

The footsteps grow louder.
No use waiting,
best to go with grace
and a smile.
Keep running.