Running Poem: Lost Shoes

Seeing lost, lone shoes on the side if the road is a common occurrence for anyone who travels. When I'm running, especially, I seem to come across these lonely shoes several times a month. Running the same routes, these shoes will often sit lost and abandoned for days, even weeks on end.

Looking at a shoe on the side of the road, I can't help but wonder where the shoe's  match went, or why the shoe lost its partner in an intersection, or by a park, or in the middle of the street.

"Lost Shoe"

This morning I saw a child's shoe--
an ivory-slipper, still glittery,
now stained with the muck that flings off
car tires
in the spring.

I thought about the little girl
who lost the shoe--
did she kick if off as she rode in her stroller
while having a tantrum?

Or was the small slipper thrown
out a car window
in a fit of rage
over the absence of a snack,
or a book not shared?

Did the shoe fall off
because it was too big and as she ran
to catch up to her mommy and daddy,
it slipped off her foot?

I ran past the shoe
and soon forgot about the little girl--
the hole in the toe of her tights
as she sat in church--
one shoe on, one painted toenail
pointing to heaven.