in this empty stadium I'm being chased

pursued by something I struggle to see,

I smell a hunter's breath alien and rank

if there was one nearby I'd climb a tree

 

its dusk now and the circuits are endless

he surmounts hurdles with an easy glee

his dark vest sports no national colours

night falls, I need the floodlights to see

 

its been like this now for several years

whatever obstacles I throw in his way,

running like a jabbed rabbit for my life

dawn breaks and with it another day

 

my old running shoes frayed years ago

for ages I've been reduced to bare feet.

the number long ago dropped off, and

my skin's burned to bronze in the heat

 

sometimes I think this is a bad dream

I'll wake up out of breath in a sweat,

or its some species of food poisoning

delirium after that plate of sushi I ate

 

he's falling back, I'm gaining ground!

did they pay off the years of prayers?

but wait a minute here's another one!

the hurdles loom like flights of stairs

 

he's eluded batteries of ack-ack guns

run rings round my sharpest javelins.

wish I could put the stopwatch back

it's a deadly marathon no-one wins

 

for the sun's hotter than it used to be,

sucks at my forehead like a giant kiss.

its a toss-up which will catch me first;

sunstroke or my mad athletic nemesis