In Tough Times

you will rediscover
you have centres of feeling,
in your head, heart, and gut
and there will be no 'But...  '
about it.

Transports Of Delight

I have hitched lifts for nearly forty years.
I still find joy in the neighbourly driver
who's kindness gets me where I need to go.

The drivers I admire most
are those who are the least prerared.
My measure of this how much rubbish
there is in the foot well where I put my feet,
and how the driver has to move their mobile phone
which was on the seat and is still recharging.

The biggest surprise comes at the end of the lift,
as an easy conversation is drawn to an abrupt close.
The drivers who are most at ease pick up their phones
and before I can leave take an in-car selfie of the two of us.

I wonder, but don't worry, where the image might travel.
People are far too inattentive, and images on phones
are far too numerous, for what I leave to come back at me.