LIFE EXPECTANCY
by Billy Collins

On the morning of a birthday that ended in a zero,
I was looking out at the garden
when it occurred to me that the robin
on her worm-hunt in the dewy grass
had a good chance of outliving me,
as did the worm itself for that matter
if he managed to keep his worm-head down.

It was not always like this.
For decades, I could assume
that I would be around longer
than the squirrel dashing up a tree
or the nightly raccoons in the garbage,
longer than the barred owl on a branch,
the ibis, the chicken, and the horse,

longer than four deer in a clearing
and every creature in the zoo
except the elephant and the tortoise,
whose cages I would hurry past.
It was just then in my calculations
that the cat padded noiselessly into the room,
and it seemed reasonable,

given her bright eyes and glossy coat,
to picture her at my funeral,
dressed all in black, as usual,
which would nicely set off her red collar,
some of the mourners might pause in their grieving to notice,
as she found a place next to a labradoodle
in a section of the church reserved for their kind.


Billy Collins “Life Expectancy” from Whale Day.  © 2020 Random House and used with the permission.

It’s the birthday of marathon runner Abebe Bikila, born in 1932 in Jato, Ethiopia. Bikila won a gold medal and shattered a world record while running barefoot at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, thereby “beginning the great African distance running avalanche,” as Sports Illustrated put it. Bikila had that day been wearing a pair of ill-fitted shoes, which caused blisters, so he took them off. He was the first Black African to win an Olympic gold medal in any sport. A number of theories have been posited to explain the extraordinary success of East Africans in long-distance running contests, from their high-altitude training to their simple diets. But one factor may be paramount: the culture of running in places like Ethiopia and Kenya. Bikila became an instant hero and role model in his native country. When he and others returned home after successful races with medals and cash, local children and teens saw what might be possible. Running clubs and training camps flourished.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.^®

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