Mile Markers

Gray chalk hills fade one behind another

until they dissolve into oyster sky.

Ice crystals dance on gelid air,

glisten highway’s edge, and settle

in the crooks of sleeping maples.

Evergreens bend under weight

 of their thick winter shawls.

In spite of its bleakness, we are taken by

the stark frost-coated beauty of it all.

Northbound…

my core senses those timeworn mountains

long before my eyes discern them.

Yet, it is not these ancient mounds

that draw me back, but the folks therein

I long to see—those I love who wait for me.

With each mile passed, the years begin to dissipate

like those hills now veiled in mist and gloam;

my pulse beats faster as this heart anticpates

that final stretch of road that leads me home.

©  Ginny Brannan 2014