Robert Southwick Richmond

Running on the World

RUNNING ON THE WORLD

 

        Geneva

 

I run the lake with three Swiss guys

and try to talk German in 7:30 miles.

My pulse thumps in my head.

Servetus burned for what I know.

 

        Salt Lake City

 

A pleasant old cop tells me at 6 AM

no jogging in Temple Square.

Over the bowl of morning mountains

God is doing his leg stretches.

 

        Valley Forge

 

You can run the five mile path on a winter evening

griping about the cold and your sore feet.

 

        Mountain Home Veterans Cemetery,

              Johnson City, Tennessee

 

I am the road I run,

my feet call you to memory.

You were Manassas and San Juan Hill,

Ardennes, Bataan, Inchon, Khe Sanh.

You are the green earth of Tennessee,

You are the road I run.