Running Poem: Fade Together

"Fade Together"

Running the dirt-packed path,
hopping over the small stream,
looking to the backwaters
where the waterfowl float
on the burning water lit by
the rising sun

Thoughts fading to the same path
in the snow--
the crunch of snowshoes,
the sound of
their aluminum frames
snapping up and down
with the rhythm of my steps.

Fades into the path
through the suburban trees
where I stopped my steps
to see a coyote standing in the path staring back at me.

Reminds me of the gravel road
outside Lake Bemidji
when first one, then two dogs
chased me away
from their farmhouses.

My heart's beating fast,
so I slow it down by remembering the run
looking down on the Mississippi
where the northern ice floated
to melt downstream.