Before sundown

It seems too early for snoring
in the afternoon,
but I hear it, along with a thrumming
hotel air conditioner and traffic
careening this way and that nearby.
I loved what I could see through my window
on the drive but we never stop
except at the doughnut shop to pee.
I’m going to miss that stretch of road.
The ebullient signs excite me
though not to buy anything but to think
how large a world there is
beyond the three regular roads I travel.

One road is necessity.
Another road is obligation.
The third is for the spirit.
Anything behind that is for fun,
and I wish we’d take that route more often.

It’s too early to be thinking about supper
but the quiet makes me more aware
of my stomach and there is somehow
a mounting excitement about eating
in another town, even when it ends up
being the same food as at home.

It’s too middle-of-the-road to be
having a midlife crisis
and maybe I’m way past halfway
but I am hungrier than I should be,
I’m not at all tired of new places,
and the third road is calling me
like a carnival barker at sundown.