Did They See?
Eight forty-five on a Saturday evening in mid September.
New York State thruway, sixty miles an hour at best, top down, fifth gear,
two hands on the steering wheel.
Roadster just humming down this stretch, making our way back from another
successful weekend adventure.
Not a worry or a care, just a much needed sense of freedom and peace.
A brief look over my left shoulder and it was there.
Big, orange, clear, glowing in an otherwise cloudless, starless sky.
A harvest moon as bright and spectacular as any I have ever seen.
Nothing more to ask for at this point……..perhaps Neil Young on the radio but
that may have been too much thinking about it now……just not needed.
We saw it.
We watched it following us for that thirty mile drive,
nothing changing in it’s glory or spectacular stage presence.
It was just one of those nights, when things fall in place, at least for a while.
But this was the thruway and we were the only ones it seemed to not be in a hurry.
I did not count the cars and trucks that passed us, some safely others swerving
to gain every second they could to get where they were going.
I am sure that to many of these travelers, we were in the way,
sixty miles an hour, sheltering in one lane, refusing to engage in their race to somewhere.
In the midst of this I could not help but think, “ did they see it?”……orange ball aglow in the eastern sky.
Was there time to take a look,
slowing down enough to take in the wonder of it all, the uniqueness of the evening.
Did someone in one of those vehicles call attention to what they could be experiencing,
or was the race to somewhere just to important, not a second to lose, a minute to be delayed.
I hoped they saw, I wanted them just to look for a brief second,
all of us on that road needed to be reminded by this experience just where we stand in
the whole of things.
I am most certain that few took that brief second to look or reconsider where we really stand.
I did and felt very fortunate as a result.
Eight forty-five, Saturday evening, sixty miles an hour, top down, eyes and mind
wide open, cruising in fifth gear.