LONG DISTANCE DRIVER

[Those of us who love or have to undertake long-distance driving, often fail to notice the unique comfort of strangers on the road. Liking long distance driving, as I do, I have indulged in the varying moods of sharing the road with others...and made unknowing friends with drivers with whom I never exchanged a single word or gesture, or ever will. Next time you are on a long distance drive, think of the mood captured in the following prose. It's a true reflection of my own experience].

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I didn't quite see his face.
He had dark glasses in place,
driving his droning truck devotedly,
strong arms parallel,
hands gripping firmly,
man and truck in harmony with time;
truck, man and road,
all in the rhythm of their prime.

My own road master,
blinked and blasted its way past.
I commanded for more fuel,
and surged forward fast.
That was when I saw his profile,
and his face...
a man on a mission
and profound taste of pace.
His horn sounded
and his grill grinned.
My mirror brought back to me,
his greetings rimmed.

We consumed kilos of meters
in their hundreds;
we drove;
not speaking...
not seeking;
but two souls in one glove...
two men,
two trucks
in different worlds in one...
solitude was there,
but loneliness was gone.
Like gum in the mouth,
eight wheels chewed the mileage
for hours;
our presense in unison;
time lost its passage...

Then frantically,
I checked my mirror
and adjusted. Frantically!
My shoe belly left the face of the fuel lever,
unattended.
My truck slowed
and a detached distance back,
I saw the other truck with the man and company, slacking...
Like a thousand pumps,
draining the waters of a shallow pool,
my mood lost spark...
and dangled, like a soiled piece of wool...dampened!

I watched my diminished world view
in my rear view mirror,
as the truck vanished from sight.
Suddenly carrying the load of travel alone,
and feeling punished...
the horizon surrounded me,
in its overwhelming roundness;
limiting me;
shrinking me;
sinking me,
in immense weariness...

It took just a truck;
a strange truck,
and a strange person,
a person I never knew,
never would know,
to drain my drive stamina
and drown me
in a nostalgic stew...
Yet I look forward to the next dewey drive;
and the next luxury of a soothing passion cry...
Do not come driving with me...
for Im looking for sweeet loneliness...
strange horizons
and the merry sadness
of strange company found and lost...


Author: Andrew Sesinyi.