While He Tries to Stay Awake

The song on the radio
The empty coffee styrofoam cup
The open window
The open road
The man who needs to stay awake

The trip?  A bust
The girl?  Engaged
The guy?  Not him
The truth?  Resting in his stomach next to two bags of cheap fast food
The next step?  Not a clue

Tomorrow--work at 8am
The next day--same, and the day after that
Next month--his brother's wedding
In six months--his birthday
In a year--he could feel great, he thinks

Got a trick?  Got a trick to stay awake?
Sing a song in your head
Pick a song, any song
Maybe a memory
That'll keep you alert

But all the memories are of her
And they're so comfortable
He just wants to crawl inside them
And stay there
While his car goes off the road

She would be upset
She would blame herself
She would blame him
She would still get married
So what would be the point?

He'd like drive his car in a figure eight formation
Or swerve in such a way
That it does a one eighty
And leaves him facing the non-existent
Oncoming traffic

Nobody's on the road
He should stop the car
He should get out and walk
See how long it takes him to get home
See if he stops somewhere before he gets there and starts over completely

He thinks about turning around
He thinks about grand gestures
He thinks about two years ago
He thinks about two hours ago
He thinks about how much he wanted to be driving back with her in the passenger seat

And the thought of that
Makes him glance over
For just a second
Just to make sure
She wasn't there