He runs as he's been running for hours <br />Having escaped, he must get away <br />He's innocent, but they never believed him <br />His life would have ended at the hands of the hangman <br />But now he is gasping for breath <br />As he heads for the forest, fortunately near <br />He turns his head to risk a glance behind <br />The riders are not far, but slowed down by the hounds <br />Luckily for him, still on leashes <br />Yet he knows it won't be long <br />Before the dogs are let loose to harry his heels <br />A shot rings out as he stumbles over a root <br />He darts intot he trees, almost sobbing with relief <br />For the bullet missed him, the root saved him <br />Though his ankle is sore, he cannot stop <br />Still for the moment he pauses, his hand on a trunk <br />His first instinct being to climb <br />But the dogs would scent him, his life would end <br />With a bullet, yet that would be quicker <br />Than dancing at the end of a rope <br />He runs on, a zig zag course <br />Till he comes to a ravine with a fast flowing river <br />He hears behind the howling of the hounds <br />And screaming Please, to whichever god might be listening <br />He jumps into the icy water, his breath nearly stolen away <br />Is tumbled this way and that, as he's carried downstream <br />Oh wonders of wonders, the gods have said Yes <br />As he collides with a log jam <br />Against the opposite shore <br />Dragging himself up the muddy bank <br />He looks back up the rocky gorge <br />Sees that the first of the hounds has arrived <br />At the place from where he made that leap <br />He rises and punches a fist to the sky <br />Sobbing aloud, They can't catch me now. I'm safe at last.<br /><br />Marilyn Shepperson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/escapee/
