RACING MY SHADOW

Bicycling along Highway 101 on the Oregon Coast
with a strong early morning sun aiming sideways
my shadow pedals as hard as I do racing me
past ferns and groves of spruce and backwater bays
but it never moves out ahead and neither do I.

Later in the day when the sun is high my shadow
swirls on the road underneath my running bicycle
touching wheels and dancing with me a pas de deux
we’ve practiced many times never missing a step
and will dance until there is no sun, no music, no life.