by Gourab

Countless declinations and curses later
When a pair of merciful headlights arrived eventually,
His feeble smile greeted me from behind the wheel.
Confirming the details, I blessed my cell phone,
Relieved, riding shotgun as we motored into the night.
Content with plunging head-first into my music,
I could muse how different my city felt at this hour,
Making more sense than daylight ever approved of
Till I took notice of his shrunken demeanour.
Perhaps it was time we traded words,
Giving my headphones a rest, lest those eyelids give in.
Simpler questions led the way,
Answers, received with feigned intent;
Restraint in his soft voice, curtness in his speech,
The drive was long still, the delineators never-ending,
His spirits rose along the way, shedding their listless husk.
A prisoner to monotony in his own quote
He rambled on, with no regard for lingering,
About his domestic world, kids and a wife,
Disdain for the unworthy employer,
Spicing up occasional tales of a colourful youth.
The headphones stared back wistfully at me
As he resorted to cooking up more at every red light,
My hypocritical self applauding his efforts.
All before the voice abated again
And his words submitted to a sheepish rhythm,
Yet they smothered me, not pausing to reconsider
As he spoke of how he had touched her
When she lay unconscious, inebriated in the back seat,
Her partner still inside the pub in a drunken frenzy.
The road dragged on leaving my stomach imploring to be unknotted;
Was this penance I had tasted in his tone
Or nonchalant pride in his heinous pretence?
Fists clenched around my sweaty palms; eyes stuck to the sidewalks
And a limp accusation rolled off the precipice of my tongue.
He digressed, the rest of his babble fading away
Along with the lights, swallowing down my city.
Drawing me out of my daze, my phone lit up with a chime
I slammed the door behind, having finally arrived.
It was time I went back to my faithful headphones,
As my breath eased up to the faintest relief
And tears blurred out the receding backlights.

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