Caravan Dreams

(Writer's Digest 2014 Poem a Day challenge from 4/2 a voyage/journey Poem)

A trip not yet taken
vast stretches of empty route ways
cut off and preserved.

Alone-time with her
dust and faded neon
roadside attractions
distract and humor
and still amaze

Time honored meals and
diner destinations
retro in the preserved present
the curled edges of postcards
patches and souvenir spoons
dust settled and resettled

A caravan of
comfortable convenience
with nothing but time
and the next stop
to bring us together
catching up on years apart
singing forgotten songs
on a real radio
tuner dials and static
and sorting through snapshots
her past is my past

Her laughter and
tear filled eyes
childlike delight and
fussy discoveries

What can and cannot be consumed
a part of each meal plan

Wisdom and warmth
constant in my life of inconsistencies
this precious time
as yet unclaimed
a possible regret

To claim this path
thoughts beyond self
and schedules
trading hours of
precious priorities
open the door and go

Settle behind the wheel
of expanding roads
let the journey take us.
before both the path
and the companion
become memory

-lshannon