He was a sprinter,
she, a long-distance runner,
but he fell for her when
she was the girl next door,
with only a fence separating them.

Now, there were hurdles,
and with each sprint,
she kept going,
while he fought against time
to close the distance.

Out of breath, he finally caught up
just enough to reach out and touch her,
but her hair slipped through his fingers,
and he remembered then
that she hadn’t been a swimmer.