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Beach Workout

A chilly morning

Gordon beach, Tel Aviv

my first visit in thirty years

 

6 a.m., world still sleeping

I remember them there

a handful of figures

on the sand, in the breakers

 

Rounding a beach hut

I see them again

taut wrinkled bodies

steady breast stroke

through icy water

half naked exercise routines

puffing breath clouds

 

I rub my eyes

my own body

thirty years older

stops and stares

from its rotund girth

could it be

unchanged after three decades

smiling in triumph

through all that distance?

 

I think I recognize

a woman’s face

hear a familiar Russian accent

her partner doing pull-ups

another jogging a wet trail

faces, grimaces —the same!

 

Shaking my head

I continue on my way

no it’s not possible

one last glance behind

and they disappear

behind the shadow

of a new skyscraper

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© Johnmichael Simon

2009

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