Holiday

Travelling back at night
Sucking on an acid drop,
As my mother did at my birth

On that dark-riddled road,
Gave me time, on the seat of the car
To evaluate my worth.

I thought: I would like to die here.

By the riverbed choked
with shale and schist.

Under the pine plantation
Its plumage erect.

To bed down in the blackberry
Swathed in roadside dirt

Watching heaven bald
And unforgivingly blue.

I would like to sleep
Under water beyond the beach

Where my family shrank
Shrivelled in the heat.

I'd like to meet my end
In a town that's just a bend In the road.

But I arrive instead
At my cobblestone drive,
Overcoming collapse -
And amble inside
My time unelapsed.

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