writing: the road

there is a road that takes me to and from

and it's big, the things that road has seen

i've gone fast down that road

i've meandered slowly around its curves

i've rolled the windows down and let my hair run free

i've had exultation and anthems and fingers in the sky

i've cried my way down that road

cried until my belly hurt and my eyes ran out of crying

i've walked that road

i've run that road

i've fallen in, on that road

i've fallen out, too

i've stood and i've sat and i've paused and i've looked

i've rejoiced and despaired and felt silence so loud it roared in my ears and rushed in my head like the chatter of a thousand things i should have said or the memory of the brave moments when i finally did

if i pressed my body to the concrete

put my palms flat on the pavement

i might feel the pulse of hundreds of heartbeats

and the rolling rhythm of it all would be so much

it would fill my lungs and run my veins and shut my eyes

but right now, the road keeps them for me