I was driving home

And saw a man running alone

He was strangely dressed

Red sweatshirt

Big chest

Lean

In his jeans

Running

I wondered, was he hurt or stressed?

He didn’t look back

He came to the intersection and had to cross the road

He hesitated, unsure of which way to go

I kept driving

He kept running

I hadn’t seen what was coming

Now that guy is still running

He’s living and thriving

But as I went further down the road

I began to know what he was running from

There was a woman in a pink dress

Long eyelashes fluttering

Lips puckering

There was another young man within her reach

There on the corner

She flattered him with her speech

In his running shorts and slicked back hair

His fit t-shirt

He stood to flirt

While the other guy in the jeans ran away

For he’d read his Proverb that day

He ran – far and fast

In his jeans

Away from her path

To the Proverb he was listening

His very own life he saved

The other man is now wishing he’d heeded

Now he sits alone, defeated

Unable to run

In the grave

While the guy who wore the jeans is still running

Life budding