by

They said that had someone died.
Actually they said that someone had been killed.
There’s probably a difference.
There was probably a scream.
A break.
A crash.
Maybe there was a “Are they breathing”
Maybe there was a “no”
Maybe there were tears.
Maybe there were not.
Maybe they were alone.
Or maybe their brother, or girlfriend, or coworker, or hitchhiking companion, couldn’t bring themselves to tears.
Maybe it hadn’t quite sunk in yet.
Maybe.
But I wouldn’t know, because I wasn’t there.
I was far behind the incident at the back of a line of cars that stretched for miles.
 
All I knew was that something had happened, and we had stopped.
I knew that if you gazed out of the windshield of your car, you would see an endless string of headlights that swooped up and down with the hills and faded into the horizon.
All I knew was that if you stepped out of your car and touched the ground,
you would find sand so fine that it could slip through your fingers in a heartbeat.
And in the sand there were rocks that were not as pretty up close as they from afar.
And all I know,
Is that if you looked up from the sand to gaze at the mountain tops,
the sunset was breath-taking.
 
Little did I know, someone was taking their last breath.
Someone was dying two miles ahead of me, and I was walking along the highway.
Stepping in and out of the hot sand, tripping on small plants, trying my best to avoid the thorns, while thinking
“If I die tomorrow, at least I’ll know, I’ve seen a beautiful sunset.”
 
And that someone dying might have been looking at that sunset too.
They might have been on the ground, and with their last burst of energy grabbed a handful of sand.
And maybe, it slipped through their fingers in a heartbeat.
Or maybe their heart had already stopped, and they never knew the touch of the earth or fading light of the sun.
Or maybe not.
What did I know?
I knew nothing but fine sand, disappointing rocks, and gorgeous sunsets.
 
I knew I was walking, but I did not know where.
I was following a highway full of stopped cars,
And stopped trucks,
And stopped motorcycles.
Thousands of people whose lives had been put on pause while one person’s stopped.
 
All I knew was that at some point the line started to move,
All I know is that when I finally went back into the car.
I paused for a moment to say goodnight to the sky,
I dragged my hand across the ground as the cars in front of me started to move,
I let the sand fall out of my hand and get carried away by the wind.
And for the heartbeat when it slipped through my fingers,
I closed my eyes and said a prayer to the sunset.
“If I die tomorrow at least I’ll know, I’ve seen you.”
 
 
 
 They said that had someone died.
Actually they said that someone had been killed.
There’s probably a difference.
There was probably a scream.
A break.
A crash.
Maybe there was a “Are they breathing”
Maybe there was a “no”
Maybe there were tears.
Maybe there were not.
Maybe they were alone.
Or maybe their brother, or girlfriend, or coworker, or hitchhiking companion, couldn’t bring themselves to tears.
Maybe it hadn’t quite sunk in yet.
Maybe.
But I wouldn’t know, because I wasn’t there.
I was far behind the incident at the back of a line of cars that stretched for miles.
 
All I knew was that something had happened, and we had stopped.
I knew that if you gazed out of the windshield of your car, you would see an endless string of headlights that swooped up and down with the hills and faded into the horizon.
All I knew was that if you stepped out of your car and touched the ground,
you would find sand so fine that it could slip through your fingers in a heartbeat.
And in the sand there were rocks that were not as pretty up close as they from afar.
And all I know,
Is that if you looked up from the sand to gaze at the mountain tops,
the sunset was breath-taking.
 
Little did I know, someone was taking their last breath.
Someone was dying two miles ahead of me, and I was walking along the highway.
Stepping in and out of the hot sand, tripping on small plants, trying my best to avoid the thorns, while thinking
“If I die tomorrow, at least I’ll know, I’ve seen a beautiful sunset.”
 
And that someone dying might have been looking at that sunset too.
They might have been on the ground, and with their last burst of energy grabbed a handful of sand.
And maybe, it slipped through their fingers in a heartbeat.
Or maybe their heart had already stopped, and they never knew the touch of the earth or fading light of the sun.
Or maybe not.
What did I know?
I knew nothing but fine sand, disappointing rocks, and gorgeous sunsets.
 
I knew I was walking, but I did not know where.
I was following a highway full of stopped cars,
And stopped trucks,
And stopped motorcycles.
Thousands of people whose lives had been put on pause while one person’s stopped.
 
All I knew was that at some point the line started to move,
All I know is that when I finally went back into the car.
I paused for a moment to say goodnight to the sky,
I dragged my hand across the ground as the cars in front of me started to move,
I let the sand fall out of my hand and get carried away by the wind.
And for the heartbeat when it slipped through my fingers,
I closed my eyes and said a prayer to the sunset.
“If I die tomorrow at least I’ll know, I’ve seen you.”
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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