Life's backing track

+ life's backing tracks +
The runner on the road
footsteps slap the tarmac
sweat atomised cross body
I-pod pumping sounds
to fill the aural senses
for at dawn all is too serene
still and quiet and unmotivating

Instead a playlist of favourites
soundtrack to life lived
performed in jogger's head
setting vibrations through skull
casting images of other times
where these sounds first encountered
now stored regenerate the feelings
as jogger pounds the pavement

Drawing breathes from deep in lungs
feeling every sinew and muscle
abruptly greatest muscle convulses
a fatal flaw carried from birth
a weakness never detected
for until now a weakness never known
seismic disturbance of life
jogger tries to gather fresh breath
music in ears so loud
cannot hear his own wheezing
only feels pain shooting through limbs

Sudden breathless emptiness
a wave of nausea and heat
black spots growing larger
entire vision blurred and shaken
collapses onto roadway
the Sun is coming up
all so still and serene
no one to see
as Ipod plays favourite songs
though no one is listening.