looking in the rear view mirror

looking in the rear view mirror

this afternoon as I drove home,

I briefly mistook raindrops

rolling down the back windshield

and turning white as they caught

the setting sun’s rays

precisely as they lined up

with the top of a traffic light

for the low-key strobe flashes

that signal that soon an

emergency vehicle will appear

and part the lanes of cars

like a snowplow sending us all

into the drifts on the side of life.

but far from something stressful

looming out of the past

to push me off my

blithely chosen path

and over to a chilly, fearful stop,

those drops, that light, these

rising and falling words

in the chorus of gabrielle aplin’s

song “what did you do?” playing

on the car stereo, banging an

“oh you know what this means”

heartbeat in my ears — it’s just

beauty and warmth all around me

on this day after halloween,

not even the ghost

of a long ago emergency

giving me pause,

as I continue on toward

the place where rear view mirrors

aren’t needed at all for

safe passage through life.