Yard Time
I run miles in squared circles.
22 strides long, by 11 wide (twenty two x eleven)
Brushing the walls with my shoulders
Nudging them outward-pushing against my confinement.
Flying in my minds eye – challenging their oppression.
I daydream of loved ones and glance at the sky
On the straightaway, 22 yards long, by 11 wide.
I fight all the battles we won on the streets.
I breath with the cadence I set with my feet.
And when I tire before I’m ready to stop
My mind recalls the story I’ve read so often to my kids,
I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…
As the little engine struggles to the top,
And the joy of the children as they change the chant…
I thought I could, I thought I could, never say can’t.
So the pain melts from my lungs and settles in my heart,
As my stride opens up to the pace at the start,
While a new cadence grows as I cover the distance
One we all know, Repression Breeds Resistance,
Repression Breeds Resistance
Repression Breeds Resistance.
Tom Manning – 1989