Jean Salkilld
Traffic Jam
We sat poised between cool rage and hot reflection
On the impasse that had forced us to a halt
On the pea-soup carriageway. Change the direction
Of our angry thoughts: it was not at all our fault
Failed lights had held us up; green, red and amber
Glowered black, forbidding, through the murky malt
Of rising tempers, arcing on the camber
Of the still but seething road. Accept our fate
That we are going nowhere; let thoughts clamber
Along alternate ways; we will be late,
And passing time reminds us we remain
Slow travellers in a walking world. We wait
And wait, expectant, watched by the thickening rain
Until emerging lights dissolve the strain.
On the impasse that had forced us to a halt
On the pea-soup carriageway. Change the direction
Of our angry thoughts: it was not at all our fault
Failed lights had held us up; green, red and amber
Glowered black, forbidding, through the murky malt
Of rising tempers, arcing on the camber
Of the still but seething road. Accept our fate
That we are going nowhere; let thoughts clamber
Along alternate ways; we will be late,
And passing time reminds us we remain
Slow travellers in a walking world. We wait
And wait, expectant, watched by the thickening rain
Until emerging lights dissolve the strain.
Page(s) 34
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