were you born gifted?/ the young woman asked/ as she
handed me the ring/ slipped from her wedding finger/
whereupon appeared/ the urgent psychometry/ of
justin radbond/ hurtling his tattered form before
me/
justin i called him/ to where are you running?/
& the woman was spellbound/
& his eyes swung like
lanterns/ as light tossed into air by a presence/
& although his face was streaked with ocean/ his
pupils swung at my calling/ with the fire of madness
in them/
justin/ again i called him/ to where are
you running?/
& momentarily he looked behind himself/
tripping in the marshy heath/
then regaining his
footing/ he never stopped running/
as if the thing
that pursued him/ would eat the grey scattered rags/
from his back if it caught him/
& the woman/ to whom
the ring belonged/ tried to say something/ be silent
i cried/ or we'll lose him/
be calm like the
morning/ if you want justin to stop/ do not frighten
him with your nervous cough/
& your nervous
laughter/ which cracks in the sky like dark thunder
above him/
he was born a running man/ this was his
first name/
on the mudflats/ flat feet pounding into
silt/ jammed up between each toe like grey slug
growth/
what does it mean justin radbond/ to be
running in this storm?/
to have the weight of the
followed upon your back?/
the razor sharp sense/ of
pursuers breath/ upon your neck?/
to have the
bleakness/ of storm lashed coast/ across your
cheeks/ dare you stop to listen/
to the gentle wood
growing rings/ of years inside the trunk?/ or the
private ant colonies/ slowly circling beneath the
bark?/
dare you stop to feel/ the peaceful forest
years/ surrounding you/ & look within/ to understand
your growing?/
i am seeing you justin/ i am finding
you naked & broken/
i cannot stop you/ your habit
of force is too powerful/
the light of my vision/
lights up your hair to flame/ & the dark wind
streams through you running man/ as part of the
treetops/
i watch you gaining speed & heat from the
planet/
i turn to the woman/ he is bound for the
ocean/
i feel through my vision/ into the
loungeroom/
my forehead streaming with sea salt &
sweat/ my clothes rumpled & sticking to my body/
i handed the ring back to the woman/ still intact/
i waited for her response/ she was coughing &
trembling/
yes i know him/ she said