NIGHT COACH

Power lines,
Threading the night
With monotony.

White picket fence
Glaring and unfriendly.

Yellow road lights
Lined up, at attention.

Skeletal trees
With leafy topknots
Bend in coy intrigue
Towards the road,
Fleeting illusion of menace.

Truck convoy,
Red lights threatening.

Coach lights sidewinding
Dusty trees and posts.

Cottage lights, occasional,
Blinking out, and in,
With time and distance.

Warm, inviting
Longing thoughts of home.

Trucker stop,
White lights,
Harsh and glaring,
Brief lit window
On another world.

Sleeping town,
With black and silent river,
What secrets do you hide?

Coach terminal,
And a brief activity
And on—to where?
I cannot see ahead
To where I go.

Only sideways, out a window
At where I might go
Might be, might have been,
But mostly I see
Reflection of me
On a coach,
In the night
Going somewhere.

Dawn McDonald
© July 2004

Midi: "Menuet in C"
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Photo: "Night Coach"
Photographer: Vlado