The Sunset Road

The Sunset Road

To hear the crunch of pavement below 

With sticky fingers wrapped around a leather wheel 

Trees and sky pass in an endless flow

Surrounded by a cage of solid steel

Thunder rumbles and shakes the earth

Lighting flashes in mocking mirth 

Rain falls from a darkened sky

Droplets slither along glass 

My lip trembles, and I whisper a silent, ‘why?’

A flashing symbol on the dash warns of my waning gas

She loved to drive at sunset, as I am doing now

She would drive and drive, as long as time would allow

I remember the day we met

Outside church, she was underdressed

Oh, how could I ever forget?

Her with her ruffled hair and ragged jeans, me in my Sunday best

She laughed as I could not cease my staring 

As if she knew I was comparing 

How she ended up in my car—that part I can’t quite remember 

But the drive I will never forget 

We got lost that morning in December 

Lost in a world all of our own

Our youthful futures unknown 

She told me stories of her life

She spoke with a tongue of gold

I knew I wanted her to be my wife

To her, my heart had been sold

I took her for a ride as the sun fell

To those endless roads where our souls would forever dwell

Preparing for our day of bonding 

I noticed her light began dimming 

She was slow in her responding 

With weariness her eyes did begin swimming 

‘I’m wonderful,’ she would say. ‘Only worn out, only tired.’

Always with that strength I so admired 

Only when I could not wake her from her slumber 

Did I accept that there was something amiss 

They put her down on a chart as a number

I felt like I was falling into an endless abyss 

How could this be real? 

All I could do was cry on my knees in a kneel

It put out her fire 

It washed over her in horrid waves

She needed more care than any hospital could acquire 

The nurses passed me, wailing over shallow graves

She was so young, a flower just bloomed

How could they look me in the eyes and tell me she was doomed?

I prayed in the darkness of my room

Alone and broken, I begged the Lord

“Don’t take her yet,” I cried. “Don’t let her light be shoved in a lonesome tomb!”

The grief was more than my heart could afford 

I held her hand as her life drained away

The doctors remained me of all I had to pay

She looks into my gaze with a smile on her lips 

She squeezes my hand with a grip so warm

Her eyes could have set sail a thousand ships

Yet she chose only one lonesome vessel to reform 

She was to me an angel, perfect and bright 

She filled my life with every delight 

They called her callous and unrefined 

They turned their noses up at my love

Because she was forever speaking her mind

She flew above them like a dove

They didn’t like her because she was willing 

She chose what they would not, and her life was fulfilling 

Her soul left her body and it rocked my world

I couldn’t grasp that her light could die

My very existence swirled

One word pierced through my clouded mind: “why?”

Why did she have to go?

Why hadn’t Jesus simply said, ‘No?’

Driving from the hospital alone

I felt as shattered as a broken vase

My future had been known

I had finally found my place

Now I had nothing, and nothing was for sure

This was more than I could endure

She said to me the first drive

“Be careful, love, how you spend your days,

Because you never know how long you’ll be alive

The Lord is perfect in all His ways

He knows the path made for us 

But we’ll never walk it if we take the easy bus"

I thought she was innocently sweet

But I didn’t buy what she was speaking 

I didn’t realize that while she and I drove that same street

I was lost, but she was seeking 

I knew not where the road would lead 

She knew the ending her life would breed

As I drive the sunset road

I peer past the storm into the fiery blaze

That array of colors that glittered and glowed

I see her past the rays

She stands in a meadow with her arms open wide

Still there was that which I had been denied 

I slow the car to a careful halt

I press a trembling hand to the glass 

I can’t help but feel like it’s all my fault 

She shakes her head as the guilt continues to harass 

“It’s not your fault” she tells me in my heart

“This was meant to be, though I’m sorry we must part”

An angel before me, whether it be true or not 

I can’t tear my eyes from her glory

She waves goodbye as my gut ties in a knot

I want to call her back but I know she’s no longer for me

She lived her life knowing each could be her last 

She’d let not a single day get past

I leave her to the sunset and her forever peace

I drive the road again alone

I know my love for her will never cease

But even with her gone, I was not on my own 

The Lord drives with me down the sunset street 

And with him I am complete

The sunset road leads all to home

But the choice of how they drive it is in their hands

They can choose to wonder and roam

But they can’t stop time’s sands

One day all must account for a life lived

Will they speak of living or how they just survived?

On the sunset road, driving ever unknown 

Why choose to take the ride alone?