Talking Politics

I thought I had lost you.

I took that last corner hard,

shook the mind of reason,

but there you are,

clinging on like grind Death

to the trailing edge of this

insane dogfight of an existence.

 

Now, through the briar patch.

You thought the flat desert,

wide open scrub brush was bad?

Well, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet, son.

 

It gets rough.

It gets painful.

By the time we get through here,

we’ll both be ripped and torn,

shredded clothes and cut to ribbons

by the sharp thorns.

Protect your eyes and throat.

You don’t want to be

another casualty of this pursuit.

 

ZOOM!

Now we break clear.

Thirty seconds of smooth sailing

and then “BANG!”

We’re hit with another concussive blast

that threatens to shake our vehicle apart.

My head is ringing.

I see you staring, wide eyed past me,

off into the distance.

It takes me a second

to realize we’re falling.

 

Free fall.

It’s loud.

The rush of air is deafening

and the ground comes up

so quickly.

We don’t really feel the impact.

Then black.

 

Silence.

Are we dead?

Have we finally done it?

Reached some horrible conclusion

and together entered

the dark underworld?

 

There is light,

in some direction

that is now forward.

We move without thinking.

No longer feeling our broken bodies.

No longer hot, or cold, or wet, or dry,

just moving,

forward through the darkness.

 

I do not see you,

but I know that you are there

and the light gets bigger,

and bigger,

and bigger

as we approach it.

It is as big as the Sun

and soon, it envelopes us

and we go from the dark

to the light.

 

I don’t remember how we got here,

you and I.

Sitting here,

in this little café,

drinking coffee.

We were catching up.

Talking about life

and you were telling me

about your kids

and your job

and your life.

 

I remember listening,

just happy to be spending time

with an old friend.

At some point,

I remember this quite clearly,

the conversation turned to politics

and the bottom fell out of the world.

Fire from the sky.

 

 

HG – 2018

Leave a Reply