Poem for Saturday

Night Journey
By Theodore Roethke

Now as the train bears west,
Its rhythm rocks the earth,
And from my Pullman berth
I stare into the night
While others take their rest.
Bridges of iron lace,
A suddenness of trees,
A lap of mountain mist
All cross my line of sight,
Then a bleak wasted place,
And a lake below my knees.
Full on my neck I feel
The straining at a curve;
My muscles move with steel,
I wake in every nerve.
I watch a beacon swing
From dark to blazing bright;
We thunder through ravines
And gullies washed with light.
Beyond the mountain pass
Mist deepens on the pane;
We rush into a rain
That rattles double glass.
Wheels shake the roadbed stone,
The pistons jerk and shove,
I stay up half the night
To see the land I love.

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Leaving town. Drove my father to the airport in the morning so he could fly to my sister's where my mother is already visiting, had lunch with my beloved who has now been subjected to my charming children and who told us that there is going to be another Highlander movie with Adrian Paul executive producing, whoo! Then I came home and drove myself crazy and sort of got packed and tried to keep my aforementioned charming children from using the furniture as jungle gyms and had dinner and stuff, and now I am pretending to be organized to go to Seattle in the morning.

Oh, my wonderful *coughs* husband remembered today that he had never bothered to get our seat assignments from the airline, nor did he mention to me that we did not have seat assignments, so when he called today he discovered that we are in four different sections on the plane. I am sure whoever ends up with my eight-year-old in the center seat with no parent within three rows will be just thrilled about this. :p

Ummmyeah stressed. Hopefully will be better tomorrow posting from the west coast! And now I must go figure out whether I have a bathing suit in which I can be seen in front of my husband's 90-year-old grandmother. Everyone have a great weekend!


Patuxent River crossing from St. Mary's to Solomons, early evening.