Hydroplane

Thunder through the devil’s hour
You are the nights awake
Eyes full of ceiling
Bending shadows like trees

Fateful days
Spent in the rain and sleet and snow
Is that where you go?
When the drunken clouds roll
And blackened skies ring forth
Whipping ‘cross your windowpane

You are the bedridden longing
One Mississippi
Two…four
Resounding darkness
Breaths contained
Mind drifting miles away
In like the latch-key
Stumbling down the hall
Caked boots, pristine sheets
Her body alternates
Pitch black; flash of day

Slipping down the overpass
You are the hand squeezed tight
Wide-eyed rearview
Tear-streaked sky

Praying for storm clouds
Beneath fluorescent lights