If I Could Run Away

by Hannah Linder

If I could run away, 

Beyond the day and night,

To places undisturbed,

By human sound or sight. 

Where time is but a clock,

Who cannot move a hand,

Where days and weeks are tangled,

As if a fading strand.          

I’d leap across the mountains,

I’d race the northern winds,

And if I met the moon man,

I’d ask him to be friends.

I’d hide the sound of laughter,

In every waking bloom, 

And bury a little smile,

Into the desert’s dune. 

I’d ask the wise old trees, 

For a cradle in their arms,

I’d sleep until the sun, 

Awoke me with her charms. 

If I should get lonesome, 

I’d dive into the sea,

And follow all the creatures,

Who bubble noise to me. 

On the other side of then,

And past the place of now, 

I’d watch the river rocks,

Sigh and wipe their brow.

I’d slide down the falling water,

Down a thousand feet or two,

And I’d count the many stars,

If there’s nothing else to do. 

But if I should get tired,

Of a world not quite my own,

Then I would leap the distance,

Back to a place I’ve known. 

It will hardly be enough,

To remember where I’ve been,

So I’ll finish out the day,

And tomorrow go back again.