Run Before Dawn (by William Stafford)
Most mornings I get away, slip out the door before light, set forth on the dim, gray road, letting
my feet find a cadence that softly carries me on. Nobody is up--all alone my journey begins.
Some days it's escape: the city is burning behind me, cars have stalled in their tracks, and
everybody is fleeing like me but some other direction. My stride is for life, a far place.
Other days it is hunting: maybe some game will cross my path and my stride will follow for hours,
matching all turns. My breathing has caught the right beat for endurance; familiar trancelike
scenes glide by.
And sometimes it's a dream of motion, streetlights coming near, passing, shadows that lean before
me, lengthened then fading, and a sound from a tree: a soul, or an owl.
These journeys are quiet. They mark my days with adventure too precious for anyone else to share,
little gems of darkness, the world going by, and my breath, and the road.