Wide Road

©Matthew Word Bain

once a two lane highway
with more birdsong
than engine noise
traffic these days
is about the same
but the gas pumps
have moved out now
closer to the interstate
where the big rigs roll by
they never come this way

this solitary pump
still standing, aloof
all but in the travel lane
little room left to pull in
let alone fill’er up
business here
is now done
somewhere
else

out here
on this road,
though

I can drive for miles
and never see
another
driver

and when I do
there’s only us two
and we have our choice
of four lanes between us
free to move on this
wide open road