Hippomene

Bending to the earth I pressed
my palms flat against the dust,
thought how it would tangle in your sandy hair
when your head rolled.
Feet like drawn arrows I set the spring in my heel ready
to run beside you to death and looking only ahead
waited for you to laugh.

You never laughed.
The sun was high and drew your shadow
out across my path. I felt your eyes
and in that moment more than anything
wanted to tell you that
you would not live to see it go down.

When the air broke I know your eyes
did not stop. Your heels beat a
low tattoo on the ground, drummed on my heart
so I could not hear the sound
of my own breathing and ran
faster, quickened by the thought of blood.

Then the first gold flashed once,
fell to my left. Stung with some unnamed
feeling I swept it into my lap
without looking. The crowd roared.
When I passed you I did not let you see the way
the color moved into my cheeks like dawn
on the face of a white rose.

When the second gold rolled farther
I knew that nothing hid
in the dark of your eyes.
I let the wind linger
in my hair, felt the weight of cold
against my skin beneath the folds of fabric,
thought that if I gathered it up with both hands,
I could run to the edge of the world and into forever.
I passed you again and I could not speak.

The third gold traced the sky like a god’s tear
small in the distance and I first began to fear for you.
Closing my eyes I stretched out my hands
and my legs moved as though it were my life,
caught it, clutched it to my heart.
When I dared I turned to see you
break the finish, a fist high in the air,
and I wanted you always with me.

We could be lovers,
like lions.