final stretch - day 5

123rd st / 125th st / 126th st / 130th - 134th st / 136th - 138th st / 141st st / manhattan ave / sullivan st / thompson st / w broadway

15.85 miles

i walked today with my chemistry advisor of four years, working our way through harlem, out of place, her and i. another of my chemistry professors sent me this verse:

Lo, body and soul—this land,
My own Manhattan with spires, and the sparkling and hurrying tides, and the ships,
The varied and ample land, the South and the North in the light, Ohio’s shores and flashing Missouri,
And ever the far-spreading prairies cover’d with grass and corn.

Lo, the most excellent sun so calm and haughty,
The violet and purple morn with just-felt breezes,
The gentle soft-born measureless light,
The miracle spreading bathing all, the fulfill’d noon,
The coming eve delicious, the welcome night and the stars,
Over my cities shining all, enveloping man and land.

When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d, 12, Walt Whitman

these were the gracious sights of a peaceful morning walk: a kind barnard employee biking to work; the apollo; a row of brick houses (yes, houses?!) on 130th street; ‘you look beautiful’ (no comments until i was walking alone); a childhood snack— yan yan!— at the harlem deli, a friendly ‘good morning’; a shrimp; a man moving the watering hose out of the way. ‘you’re welcome, sugar’; another ‘good morning’ (and i want to believe in people’s friendliness so badly); two young boys racing up a hill as their dad watched; a painter.

i got a bacon egg and cheese at a deli on 130th and malcolm x, embracing these last moments here. the deli man teased me, pretending to charge me 21 dollars, asking if i wanted it to stay or to go, trying to charge me for a napkin. it was friendly banter, and i suppose i indeed looked out of place. it was the most bacon-filled bec i’ve ever seen.

in the evening, another short walk with a chemist friend, and a birthday friend later still.