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16th May, 2025

Friday Poem – ‘Church of the Sunday Long Run’ by Ben Wilkinson

Photo of a lone runner running across a fell as the sun rises over distant mountains.

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘Church of the Sunday Long Run’ by Ben Wilkinson from his collection Same Difference.

Church of the Sunday Long Run
Wake before dawn. Don shorts and harrier tee, tie laces silently. Percolate coffee, careful to sip as it cools and you turn your thoughts to the road ahead.
The warmup mile you must respect: pay attention to breath,
your pulse a compass needle,
at first wavering, then dead set. Nod to those fellow devotees
you meet at intervals as your
GPS watch counts the miles. Before you know it, you are at the zen heart, truly midrun in woods you knew as a child.
Never shirk from the final hill, light pulsing through clouds. Birdsong will cheer you home, a city waking as sweat anoints your brow.You see it now.