My night vision is getting too poor to enjoy this form of meditation from the driver’s seat, but there is a special form of peace to be had running down a smooth empty highway in the middle of the night. It is one of those times that rhymes with every other time you’ve looked out into the night from a moving vehicle, from childhhod ‘til today.
Driving at Night
Driving at night is the American form of meditation.
While a far-off station plays music low on the radio
the mind freewheels, sorting out the day then
putting it away.
Conversation in the car at night is like Quaker meeting,
where long spells of silence create space for one thing
that really needs to be said, then after miles of reflection
comes the response.
The car at night is asylum, personal space, intimate.
The hectic routine melts away, making a way
straight and smooth as this four-lane highway
through the heartland.
Note: unpublished draft
Agree so completely. Driving on High way 2 in the UP in the late ‘60’s late at night trying to find a radio station, suddenly interrupted by an aurora borealis that simply becomes our focus for the next half hour. Pulled over to the side of the highway,watching the northern lights reflect off of lake Superior’s surface, not knowing if the atomic end of the world was occurring. Returning to the car, realizing I had an 8am class in three hours, gotta go.
Perfectly stated. Wow, you really nailed that one. WELL DONE.