For Sid

 

I wish I could send you the smell

Of running in the spring

Lilacs , freshly cut grasses in all those places

You and I used to run and then walk 

Early on Sunday mornings

Until you moved and then you fell

And couldn't do it any longer at 94

I run by the S curve, the mascara house 

And the place you said prostitutes probably lived

Familiar places we ran by until you couldn't

I think of you and your last marathon at 81

Your last half at 89 and how proud you were

Other runners wanted their picture taken with you, 

The oldest half marathoner they knew 

They were inspired, we all were

There were then a lot of 5k and 10k runs still left

The last senior games at 94 would by your last

After having done every single one since they began

You fell and hurt your head and didn’t remember

I saw you a few times in that nursing home

One last time in February before Covid

You were walking fast  with your walker

around the other patients

Some had vacant stares, others were envious

“I have to get my steps in” you said
Your memory was leaving 

But not your determination to be fit 

Because maybe you could run again

You always had that hope

Then Covid hit and I couldn’t visit you
I ran by myself on Sundays, 

Past all those places and conversations 

About your growing up in Montana and a man named 

Purley Waters which I thought was a cool name
Your sister named Pearl - her stomach blew up you said

When she quit smoking
You cared for your mom, your dad died 

When you were 13
You knew all the words to poems 

Like “The Station” and “The touch of the master’s hand”
In the nursing home you still remembered

We ran with our dogs, many now gone
Pirate, Curly Hanzo, Jack, then Pepper and Toby

Last year I missed you and other things 

Taken for granted before this

Then Covid got you
Alone in the VA hospital dying by yourself

But then that is how it needs to be done

You hung on for a week 

Even after they turned off the life support

Determined as always to get in one more mile

So many lost last year
Gone, not coming back
But the roses came 

And the lilacs came 

Even if you didn’t

Like the Aries man you were 

And the hummingbirds you loved

You flew away