Day 992

He is learning to run
with his prosthetic leg.
Once he was the fastest runner
in his school. Faster
than his dad, faster
than the older kids.
Now his run is slow,
his metal leg like a music stand
or a strange small tower;
but every day he runs
a little farther, challenges himself
to run to that pile
of rocks, to another.
His days are a calculation
of strength and distance,
of how much he can do
that he used to do:
carry buckets of water?
Carry his grandmother?
Kick a football? Kick it
even harder, kick it
over that wall?