Traveling

By Ann Applegarth - Roswell, New Mexico, USA - 15 September 2013

 

 

I sometimes dream
I take a wrong turn,
leave the smooth road
for one that is rocky --
hair-raising curves,
steep grades, falling rocks, chuckholes.
Sometimes the steering wheel
comes off in my hands --
no mechanics or AAA
in these parts --
then, I wake.

Isn't life like that?
you plug along,
make wrong choices.
Leave the good job
for one that doesn't pan out.
Friends move, roof leaks --
then the big drought.
Blight gets the tomatoes,
squash bugs suck the vines dry.
Flu epidemic ravishes your county,
winter blows in sooner than expected.
Sometimes it's so much it gets you down --
then, a new sun rises.

But one day,
thanks be to God,
the road will be straight
and traveling it a joy --
no snags, no bumps,
no unexpected turns.
No empty gas tanks or blown-out tires,
no ice or fog or blinding dust --
just a simple hand-painted sign
pointing toward "Home."