beach road

When i was young we ran together -- i, the eldest son, was in middle school

and You taught in a seminary -- we were both young but it's a difference of degrees. Beginning of middle school and beginning of middle age in earnest.

On the road near the beach, we ran three miles -- you measured the distance with your car's odometer -- distance we measured with our feet.

We always finished at sunset, and it was beautiful over the ocean

as the sun sank away and we whirled with the beautiful Earth into

nascent darkness and the bats flew

up and over the fields, and it would remain this way until the

dark swallowed you

one bite at a time.