Look Where You’re Going

Pavement pounding, midweek, midwinter
The battle cry of runner to walker springs up,
As I nearly collide with errant pedestrians
Who should know better…

‘Look where you’re going’

It dies on my lips. Hypocrite.

Count the times a day you tell yourself ‘look up’,
Your eyes stuck to a screen.

Creature of habit
(that nice way to say ‘addict’)
Me, to the slightly wobbly core.

Stop drinking? Run.
Can’t run? Eat.
And remember always, always check your phone.

Life’s not inside a branded plastic box,
To see life you’ve got to look up. Look where you’re going.

Look up and smile.

At girls just like you in town on the run,
A million things to do but somehow getting them done.
At serious business folk, to catch them off guard.
(Really, try that one. It’s fun).

At older people, watching fear turn to delight when they see you mean the smile,
It’s there for them, they’re worth your while.

It’s there. It’s connections. It’s life with the living.

But you’ve got to look where you’re going.

And think, did you do something today that felt like you?

Not the you in the black mirror you hold in your hand,
The one that joins in with the cult of selfie,
Ironic or not.

The you you were before you were that you,
The you with a million after-school loves,
Your things that defined your early you

The dancer one, the football one, the one always in the school play,
The one the run brings you back to.

What does that you want to do?
Not the you hemmed in blue,
Doing what you think they think you should do.

Write a story, sing a song, run a race,
Whatever you want but just…
…pick up the pace.

And look where you’re going.