He was an indian
running away from home
with a buddy
when he was 17.

They hitched
down the coastal highway,
got a ride
with some guy
into San Francisco.

Put them up for the night
but, it turned out,
there were a couple
of strings attached.

So they beat him good
and took his car,
made it about 30 miles

He went to prison for that,
and after a few years
worked his way
to minimum security,
about 6 months before release.

That's when he saw
the coastal highway again,
stretching along the edge of the yard
and decided to parole himself,
stuck out his thumb,
and didn't quit
until the road ended
at the Atlantic Ocean.

Found work,
married a local girl,
andraised up her daughter,
all the way
through high school,
without anyone knowing
about what happened out west.

Took an interest
in spirituality,
got good with drumming
and the sweat lodge,
and eventually
found true love.

I met him 21 years later,
when the cops figured out who he was
and brought him back to California.

where he finished out
his sentence
plus a new one
for the escape.

I never found anyone
who could explain
what the point was
to that;
most didn't even understand
the question.

Now he's back
in the world again,
drumming and sweating,

and though what they did
to him
after he rehabilitated himself
on the run
made no sense
there's a lesson
buried down deep
in the story somewhere.

Someday
I may even be able
to find it.