Beyond Hammonton

Night is longing, longing, longing,
beyond all endurance.
—Henry Miller

The back roads I’ve traveled late

at night, alone, a little drunk,

wishing I were someone

on whom nothing is lost,

are the roads by day I take

to the car wash in Hammonton

or to Blue Anchor’s

lawnmower repair shop

when the self-propel mechanism goes.

Fascinating how the lamplight

that’s beckoned

from solitary windows

gives way to white shutters

and occasionally a woman

in her yard, bending over

something conspicuously in bloom.

So much then is duty, duty, duty,

and so much

with the sun visor tilted

and destination known

can be endured.

But at night . . . no, even at night

so much can be endured.

I’ve known only one man

who left the road,

followed an intriguing light

to its source.

He told me

that he knocked many times

before it became clear to him

he must break down the door.

Source: New & Selected Poems (W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1994)