Long Way Home...

Coming from Indianapolis... back to Kentucky
No need to hurry at 3 o'clock on a Sunday afternoon.

Light..
transparently flowing through old barn houses
with tired cows chewing tufts of cud...
watching me through vacant eyes
as mile after mile of land sprawls out
before me like a lazy cat....

Here as my mind drifts in between
Hulking billboards and row after endless row
of corn... I see them
These Weeping Willow trees...
as I follow the signs to the Winery
I've been wanting to go to...

There is something about the way
they move in the breeze....these trees
leaves me feeling cold inside as old farm houses turn
into small shacks by the river...
The air here...seems putrid
no more corn fields, as I watch endless rows
of burnt brown earth where fields
Of green vegetation once bloomed

I wonder now...why I took the long way home
as it draws near dusk
I am driving down a winding dirt road
that seems untouched and unyielding
as my tire tracks leave what seems
to be the first sign of life in ages....

Other trees are here...
Other plant life dwells in this
twilight shadow...
Seeming twisted somehow....
My inner eye sees more...
It sees what substance lies
in the waiting shadows....

What happened here
I begin to wonder as twisted branches
and strange foliage seem to depict a scene
From some other time....

Then ...in the Middle of the field
I see a lone house...
a pale gray with red shutters...
against this landscape
I scan all I see to define
why this stands out so much to me...
The Weeping willow Trees
All seem to be surrounding this house
with its low glow...and slight smoke
coming from the chimney....
The sign says: Welcome to Winston Winery
Yet nothing inside me feels welcomed...
The ground...
Seems sour here
I sit in my car just to be sure...
just to be certain...
NO birds here...Only a few crows on the fence
No flowers here Only the ivy that seems to completely
cover the side and top of this building...
NO sound....
Here there is a strange silence like impending death
hanging in the air....
Then I see the woman, and she is not smiling, but
She beckons for me to get out and come in....
There is something about the way she looks at me
with sullen eyes... and only 3 other cars there...
I wave back and act like I am gathering things out of my passengers seat....
Then she slowly turns to walk back in...
But
It seems like her shadow took more time to follow her
I put my car in reverse and barreled out of there
kicking up enough dust to create a small cyclone...

So much for the long way home...
Next time....
I'll take the express way.