Costly Disdain

You glisten bronze in the morning sun
gliding across the sand.
My pale body, barely awake, would startle anyone.  
I smile through my drunken fog and say,  
“Listen in the distance, a lone gull cries.”
You look back on me surprised – perturbed.
Now I have your eyes!
 
“We always hear the gulls cry on this beach,
but don’t always have to step around drunks,”
and your eyes turn quickly away.
 
I stare after as your form grows smaller in the distance.
I memorize the lovely shape of your silhouette against the blue sky.
My hands rest on my chest, nursing the hurt from your disdainful eyes.
Your judgment still ringing in my ears,
I and silently vow my mark of revenge on you
or another of your kind.
 
The following week her husband tells her not to run alone.
He shows her the news of a runner’s death.
She reads of a young bronze-skinned jogger found stabbed on  
the very beach where she runs.
“How inconvenient!” and she curses.
To her husband, she says,  
“Where am I supposed to run now? I so love to hear the gulls cry.”