Running Lennon’s Race

They say John Lennon died 30 years ago.

But I saw him today at an intersection in Ballard.

He is older and rounder.

And he walks with a cane.

But it was him.

I could tell by the glasses.

I whisked by, 12 miles into a 14 mile run,

and he mumble-yelled something in my direction.

At first, I thought he was crazy, or drunk,

or maybe humming the words to 'Imagine' backwards.

Then I realized that he said,

"If only I could run like that!"

I raised my fist in the air, a sign of solidarity,

as if to say, “Brother, if only I could sing like that!”

And then my feet carried me into a place far away from there

where all the people share the world

and live in peace...

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