Gridlock

Gridlock

The rain meanders misty
Downward from the sky
Filling in the tarmac
Like diamonds it lies
Reflecting in the moonlight
In night that falls too soon
Refracting under tungsten
The streetlights amber gloom
And snaking out before me
A centipede’s despair
Braking and a blinking
Indicating flares
As each metallic segment
Inches slowly down this road
Lights obscured in the mist
Of rain the sky unloads
It seems to happen every year
Each time the nights draw in
When we reach the heart of winter
The delays seem to begin
In our doorway to December
We stumble through a hall
Darker than remembered,
And longer than recalled
Time that leaves us dwelling
Things we by and large avoid
The one’s we should be telling
Just how much they’re enjoyed
Just how much they mean to us
In case they do not know
Alas with hearts in gridlock
Our bodies will not go
To places that sound perfect
Any other time of year
Leaving nothing in the journey
But the boredom and the fear
And the sight of rain in ridges
In the tarmac on the ground
With Crystals cast ephemeral…
in the moon light shining down