Headlights And Taillights Poem by Mark Heathcote

Headlights and taillights
But how much we blazed away the hours
And travelled through the night
To reach the sunlight
To see how much has changed
Without noticing how much is still just the same
When it's dusk or sunrise
We all have sentimental leanings
For the roads we've left behind
The bedsheets that we haven't creased
The pillows we haven't cried on
Since we drove far away
To reach or make some better dreams.

It's like the world is on the road with us
It's a deluge to depart and find an empty lane
Midnight truckers have all the road
They departed earliest to find a lay-by
A tarmac with a gentle hum a primordial Om
Listening to some dolly bird, a hitchhiker
Calling herself Beatrix or Beatrice
The traveller or the voyager
Promising she's lost all her inner demons, isolated rage
And finally, it seems she's found some shining hope
In a glove compartment that won't close
As she peels off a shot, and then all her clothes
Dries her tears and blows her nose
Watching a million cars go by, honking into the night.
No new destinations reached tonight.