Road Ribbons to Forever

By Frances Macaulay Forde

Fri, 30 May 2025
  • 186 reads
2 comments
 

still cold the orb lay low

quick glimpse then hidden

motor climbing to drown

crow’s haunting early wake-up call

blades of light chop dust and dirt

wheels trundle bodies bounce

over troughs and ridges

 

silent stands of hewn wood

strangled by checked metal string

strung as divided zones

of labour or fields of food

for slow-moving wool-balls

unaffected by those

who pass once in a changing

between ghost gums

wind-dancing

 

don’t press the soft start

for raucous interruption

no technological intrusion

to spoil the quietness

of morning impressions

but watch silently

anticipating adventure

 

time seems to slumber

in camera shots

too fast moving past

before fully absorbed

an erect neck now tired

of turning back with regret

high sun and heat

decreasing

petrol gauge as low horizon

never nearer not revealing

road ribbons to forever

 

our slumberous gazes

glazed with scenes

of shadows lit

by white-moon shafts

squinting at the yellow

twin-tunnelled path 

flexing muscles cramped

shivering with want

the first new glimpse

of home

 

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2000

Certificate 18
Poem
The Return of Rainbows (published chapbook)
Travel
Nature
Autobiography

Comments

Submitted by Turlough on

My money's on this being about Australia. From my own experience I might even venture to say that it's about the land to the east of Spencer Gulf in South Australia. But go on, tell me it's about the A650 between Leeds and Bradford.

Your words certainly captured my imagination, wherever you were.

Turlough

Submitted by Frances Macaula... on

Thanks for reading, Turlough.  This is about country roads down South of Perth in the 80's before any wide tar 4 or 6 lanes shortened the journey considerably.  Western Australia is quite a big state and it used to take 7-8 hours each way, to visit family in Perth.

It's actually all about driving from our home in Manjimup to Perth, leaving at sunrise on country roads, with tall, gum trees on either side and the early morning sun shining through them - camera flashes as you go past, then green fields with sheep and cows, endless wire fences, winding...  Finally on the way home, as the sun goes down and the moon rises, feeling the exitement of reaching our destination. 

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