Paul Willis


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Upon Attempting a Half-Marathon with My Daughter,
on My Sixtieth Birthday

Here I sit all brokenhearted,
came to run and only started,
while my daughter flees before
like Time’s winged chariot out the door.

If only I could thumb a ride,
I would finish by her side,
but as it is I’ll watch her fade
and sip my nectar in the shade.

Other men will cross the line,
but I am feeling, thanks, just fine.
For when I quench my antique rage,
I’ll walk a bit and act my age.

Paul Willis‘s most recent collection is Getting to Gardisky Lake (Stephen F. Austin State University Press, 2016). Individual poems have appeared in Poetry, Light, Ascent, and The Writer’s Almanac.