It must be pretty cold out there by now

Or it would be, with all the wind rushing by

But I am warm

Sitting in content concentration

Watching the turns

Through hills and trees, then highway

As conversation ceases, speed increases

 

It feels like I felt once in an airplane, landing at night

But not the moment of the landing, but the one before

When the wheels are due to hit the asphalt, and the guiding lines are rushing by

That moment is the one that I am sitting in now

I couldn't be on the road

I am above it, waiting

The ride is still too smooth for me to be on wheels

Whatever bumps I feel are only turbulence

 

The moment lasts as its thrill passes

Stretching out to a tranquil half an hour

Gliding amongst fellow late-nighters

Until I'm too far from convenience for their light to continue to pollute my view

 

I land as the road turns to dirt, startling my father awake

Back upon the earth

And then we are home