I exercise as a meditation –
For two-to-three hours, rigorous-to-quiet.
I do not need the music to distract me
From the exertion or the repetition.
I do not need the others in the gym.
I exercise for focusing myself –
To find another pocket of effort
When tissues of my strength begin to break,
To find a reservoir somewhere inside
With slips of oxygen when my lungs scream,
To know for sure what measure of a man
I am, and can be in the ‘red zone’ of
Adversity or pressure, tragedy,
To bring what short supply of blood I can
To parts of me in high demand for it,
To find the algorithm to deduce
And solve at last the quandary of time,
When intervals feel like eternity.
Shape of my Heart © Ron Villejo
