Starting out late, we face the sunset
as we leave the plain behind.
The road climbs the coastal range,
hugging slopes, snaking between peaks
onto the high moor.
The sky ahead turns
from red, to orange, to indigo,
as we cross York Road,
Almond Road, then Bitterwater Road.
Lights from lonely ranch houses
twinkle in the distances.
Cattle sleep in dark clumps
amidst brown fields.
Road signs warn of high winds
and dust storms.
As the sky darkens to match
the darkling earth, our only guides
are a solid white line to the right
and a broken reflective yellow line
to the left. Our only company,
the haunting melodies of Teresa Teng--
the words we don't understand, but
the music perfectly echoes
the curves of the lonely road.
Cocooned in the cab of the Tundra,
it seems we've been traveling
this dark road forever and are destined
to travel it evermore.
I doze off momentarily, shake
myself awake, and am not sure
if I'm leaving
or returning home.
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