The Runner: With Love to Carolina, by Carmen Rue
The Runner
With Love to Carolina
By CARMEN B. RUE, April 24, 1997
There were times when you were growing up in Monticello, New York.
When you thought you would never fit in.
And you thought you would always stand out.
You'd talk to your mother and say to your mother and complain to your mother,
because that's what mothers are for...
That you wished that your life could be as normal
as other people's normal lives seemed to be.
And then one day, your mother wasn't there any more.
And there was nothing normal anywhere, any more.
But she taught you that you had a body, and you knew it could move.
And you had a body and you knew it was fast.
And now when you run, it's her face you see and hear.
And when you hear the wind and the songs, it's her words you hear.
And you find she is in your heart, in your arms, in your eyes, in your feet, in your body,
Just as you were once, in hers.
And you are glad that you grew up fast.
You are glad that you grew up so fast, and pretty.
Love,
Mom.
FAMILY
WRITINGS