when the days are shorter

these days, my runs are a race against the dimming light. i schedule my last minutes at work to the second, speed past the traffic lights on the turning to red, a change of clothes, knotting my tangle of hair securely, music player gripped in a fist, shoes laced tight. i breathe at last as i swing the house gate shut behind me, out, finally, into the darkening evening. cars swish past me,weary commuters hurrying home to hide from the world till tomorrow. picking up speed, finding my pace, keep that breathing steady, equal steps, inhale the scent of the evening. sometimes a mouthful of smoke as i pass by the little yellow wooden shrine at the corner of the field. sandalwood, cloying incense drifting out into the clear cool evening like a spreading decay. for a few moments, i suffocate--then i am past, and back with thoughts of you, you are with me as I pass through this darkening world of shades of blue, pressing me ever closer. bending to escape the slap of palmtree fronds against my face, the shadows grasping at my ankles as the streetlights begin to glow in the dusk, surrounded by an aureole of dust-motes. breathing is harder now. music blurs into a meaningless, jarring rhythm, i hear only the thud of rubber against tar road, i see only the next corner ahead, escape lies immeasurable strides away. i think of you, all i hope for with you, and I run farther beyond the shadows out of reach of the feeble lamplight.