Life is a Long Run

by Robin J. Pearson, March, 1980

I am always moving against the flow,
Never really knowing which way to go,
What kind of fool am I now?
I can never win.

So off I'll go for another run,
And I won't care if there's a cloud or sun.
This is my chance to come alive,
And feel like I belong.

All my peers seem to fit the norm,
And all the others try to always conform.
To do the same puts my soul in a storm,
Cause I do not seem to fit.

But when I finish running free,
It's time again to face society,
This is never very easy to me,
And so I seem a fool.

So on and on things never change,
My life I never could re-arrange.
All my life I've felt like I'm in chains,
Just trying to survive.

But on the trail everything makes sense,
The world is beautiful and never tense.
On these long runs full of innocence
I have a right to live.

Cloud or sun even wind or rain,
Hilly courses that cause my body pain.
All these things I do not disdain,
But love them every time.

All creatures living by nature's plan,
All the animals and sometimes man.
They co-exist as if in one great clan,
When far away from crowds.

On the run pressures disappear,
All my troubles and all my fears,
I need the long run to dry my tears,
And reassure my soul.

To run on a brand new trail is rebirth,
A chance to experience mother Earth,
As well as measure my real worth,
By running through her woods.

Sometimes it seems when I train in pain,
I ask myself, “is this really sane?”
Or am I too vain to see the gain?
The rewards are always there.

So when the world starts to get me down,
I always know how to erase my frown,
And become as happy as a circus clown,
I merely have to run.