Traveling

Traveling
In that familiar setting
Of an SUV
In an alien part
Of the country
That has not yet
Been integrated
Into who
I am

Leaves me in thought
Deeply rooted
And sitting
In a pensive state of mind, I find
Myself sighing
Within
The dynamic meditation
Of this world

The girls up front talking
Aimlessly with each other
Possibly subconsciously
Trying to discover
Who they are
That distinguishes them
Beyond their names,
The corporate labels
Of their identities

Staring idly out the window
Of imprisonment that veils existence
From the roots of my being
The eyelids of the machine

I watch the landscape of our lives
Pass by
Each scene an ephemeral painting
Of shapes, colors, and madness
Traditionally industrial sadness
Placed within a long stretched landscape
Of grass sheltered gladness

One sight in particular
Rains upon the seed
Planted within the fertility of my mind

Row upon row
Thousands of gray stone slates
Gravitate out of the earth
Geometrically proposed
Intently put in place
With no inherent features
To display a hidden grace
All identical in design
They are masks
In the masquerade
That is life

An emotional image
Of singleness
So true in representation
That I cannot fathom
The past existence of the inhabitants
Below the stone

So striking in meaning
That I cannot fathom
The future existence of the two girls
Below the stone
Captured by the amalgamation
Of death

For in death
We are all
Something existing
Merely as nothing
But the setting sun

The people whose being
Is embodied
By those stones
All had different lives
Physically separated in appearance
Mentally separated in emotions
Spiritually separated in beliefs
But where does that translate in death?

For whom are we mourning,
But a soul
Joined in union
With the others surrounding
In Nature's
Embrace

One day
I too
Will dissipate
With the beings around me
My features of distinguishment,
No longer a part of my identity,
Will become watercolors
Diluted within your memory

There will be traces of a past life:
Words, photographs, recollections
But one day my face will begin to blur,
My features will fade in your mind
Like the rows of stones
On a foggy day.
And all that will remain
Is an internal emotion
That can be called my spirit
Offered freely, without cost
You can have it,
To keep it and love it,
Or abuse it and destroy it,
Or maybe just believe in it

A wind blowing upon
The unlocked door of your soul
Without name, face, or smell
You will forever recognize me
Flowing along the river of your veins
Dwelling in the caves of your heart
An essence of identity
Letting us forever
To never be fully apart

Until one day
You too
Will inhabit a home
Beneath the stone
That marks the end of one journey
And the beginning of another
Where our spirits
Will flourish together
In the fertile loam
Of Nature's
Embrace

But not today
Today I am traveling
And you can paint my face
In your memory
For one more day