Driving at Night

I sit behind the wheel and watch the flow

Of cottages and trees, hedges and grass;

Nocturnal dogs and cats with eyes a-gleam;

Late homing humans, some with footsteps slow,

Others awheel with flickering lights – they pass

Before my windscreen in a fitful stream.

I gaze as in a theatre, with the glow

Of headlights probing all, out through my glass

At some strange drama acted in a dream

Of which I am part, as on I go.

The road slips under me, an endless band,

Unfolding vistas new at every turn.

So do the minutes slip, the years; I learn

The parable of time, and understand.

 

Weekly Times     12.8.60