I’m posting another running-themed poem for Short Poem Thursday. It’s a favorite of my mother’s as well. I’ve mentioned before how much I like Richard Wilbur (he’s my second-favorite living American male poet after Merwin). The Kelley he mentions is the famed Johnny Kelley, who ran the Boston Marathon (always run on Patriot’s Day Monday) 61 times, winning twice and finishing second on 7 different occasions.
Patriots’ Day
Restless that noble day, appeased by soft
Drinks and tobacco, littering the grass
While the flag snapped and brightened far aloft,
We waited for the marathon to pass,
We fathers and our little sons, let out
Of school and office to be put to shame.
Now from the street-side someone raised a shout,
And into view the first small runners came.
Dark in the glare, they seemed to thresh in place
Like preening flies upon a window sill,
Yet gained and grew, and at a cruel pace
Swept by us on their way to Heartbreak Hill -
Legs driving, fists at port, clenched faces, men,
And in amongst them, stamping on the sun,
Our champion Kelley, who would win again,
Rocked in his will, at rest within his run.
You’ve gotta love the image of "stamping on the sun." And the last line works better read aloud if you make the word "rocked" into two syllables. In my tougher workouts, I often remind myself to be at rest within my run.
i loved everything about that poem except its length. i wished it could have been longer, like a marathon, maybe?