Wednesday 11 July 2018

Running


World sleeps, almost silent now
but for the steady hum of city lights,
the echoing of footfalls of the running man
as he races through the city streets,
adrenaline pumped,
he rushes, he rushes.

He has ghosts here
that shadow him through each and every day
through each and every night, haunt his very being,
spark adrenaline flight,
heart pounding as he flees his awful fears,
and in terror as he runs away;
he rushes, he rushes.

He wishes she hadn’t been like that,
hadn’t made him want her oh so very much,
hadn’t sucked him in then spat him out
‘til there was nothing left but miserable.

He had never known he could think like that
be like that plan like that act like that,
revenge had been oh so bittersweet,
the thrill of when the knife went in
countered with ache the deep regret
of robbing life of one he once loved so dear,
the rue of watching blood spill out,
pooling neath her lifeless body.

He had left her there, litter in a city street,
she decomposing neath unseeing eyes,
back alley dead, a discarded ready meal for gnawing rats,
a bounty there for fox for dog for feral cats,
for gulls and multitudia of insecta.

The city has devoured her,
she has now become the city,
has him in her grip, his every thought is full of her,
she resides in him, 
hides ‘neath his paper-thin fragility,
pouncing out at will.

He wonders whether he should confess,
whether this would rid the guilt,
whether a certain kind of peace would come.
‘Til then, ‘til decision made,
fear guilt adrenaline sparked,
he rushes, he rushes,
he rushes to escape himself.

Anna :o]

Sumana’s prompt (cheers Sumana) at Poets United, of City, reminded me of a long forgotten draft of city rough sleepers who exist in our cities.  But a trawl through documents found nothing, so I guess I must have deleted it when the PC told me You Are Running Out Of Space!  So I decided to pull on (my own) memory, but my words morphed into something else.  Where it came from, I do not know.  

Image:  Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Author:  Altoona Police Department/Medical Examiner

15 comments:

annell4 said...

Sadness between each word.

Therisa's World said...

Sad, but painful reality. In Toronto, the police are digging up the grisly remains of a mass murderer in the gay community.

Therisa's World said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sumana Roy said...

OMG...That's a very grim scene indeed and speaks of the city character. So very sad. The lines reminded me of Tom Jones' Delilah, one of my favorite songs.

Susan said...

Yikes! "He had left her there, litter in a city street,
she decomposing neath unseeing eyes . . . ." And blood and gore in a horror story quite well done! I particularly like that she becomes the city and devours him still--a just revenge for his crime. Reminds me of Poe's "Tell-tale heart." I don't feel sorry for him in the least. Henceforth, I shall fear night runners in city streets.

Sherry Blue Sky said...

That is an insightful image, the runner running to escape himself. An aspect of those dark city streets and back alleys - the ones we try to avoid.

Kim M. Russell said...

I saw this scene like a film as I read it, Anna. Effective and a total sucker punch.

Magaly Guerrero said...

The third stanza is the most terrifying to me, that sort of discovery about oneself has to leave a person unmade. If one is a murderous monster and one knows it, one deals with life accordingly. But when one never knew...

...well, I don't even want to wonder about what he'll do next, to escape himself.

Carrie Van Horn said...

You have painted an intense and graphic scene so well. A story that I would love to hear more of. Amazing writing Anna!!

Vivian Zems said...

Another body for the city to devour. I love the breathlessness of him running
to escape himself- a futile attempt.

Old Egg said...

I thoroughly enjoyed the read, sad and gruesome though it was. Last year I was walking down a less used street in my city and there was a bundled up body on the pavement with even the face
covered. No one stopped to check the person...and I am sorry to say not even me!

kaykuala said...

He has ghosts here
that shadow him through each and every day
through each and every night, haunt his very being,

It is frightening in a city inhabited by the layabouts and homeless. One is forever shadowed by eerie feelings

Hank

Martin said...

Oh my god, this is captivating in its eeriness and how you make the reader feel the haunted psyche.

Thotpurge said...

You never know the backstories of all the blank faces and sad eyes that pass you by in the city... some horrible perhaps, some just tragic.

Gillena Cox said...

Within your morbid dsrk chant, i fi d these lines intriguing
"The city has devoured her,
she has now become the city,"

Thanks for dropping by my blog Anna

Much🎀