Two Red Lights

Two red lights,
Rear headlights,
Keep me safely on the road.
Rain sheeting,
Drum-beating,
As the dark cloud sheds its load.
Night falling,
Fear calling,
And the trees and barns flash by.
I swallow
And follow
With a panic in my eye.

We started,
Departed,
In a light and playful mood.
Fine weather,
Together,
And a sense of hope imbued.
You leading,
Preceding,
As we listened to the band.
Songs playing,
We swaying,
Sometimes you’d wave your hand.

I’m steering
And peering
Through the metronomic screen.
Gears crunching
And punching
O’er the dark and slippy sheen.
I wander
Far yonder
To the glow of our abode.
Your red lights,
Rear headlights,
Keep me safely on the road.

And then, as I screech round a dangerous bend,
The lights that did guide me come to a sharp end.
No shining red glow in the thundering rain,
Just darkness, sheer darkness and darkness again.
My foot on the pedals, I slip down the gears,
Peering round wildly, my mind set with fears.
Have you come off the road, ended up in the ditch?
Or accelerated? I cannot tell which.
Maybe you’ve taken a half-hidden lane,
A shortcut you know through the wind and the rain?
Alone, all alone now, I slow to a crawl,
No red lights to guide me, no red lights at all.