I roll along the long empty ribbon of the Pacific Coast Highway
Alone in the warm dark of a late summer night,
A lingering memory is all that keeps me company.
Haunting me as I crest a soft rise
That brings the road down alongside an unbroken beach
and into the view of an alabaster moon lingering over the sleeping Pacific Ocean.
The sea is a jet black blanket
sewn with a mosaic of silvery sequins
as the swirls of current reflect the stark light.
The moon, half-full,
tilting along its downward course to the horizon,
forms a Cheshire cat smile.
The enigmatic smile teases me,
Appearing and disappearing behind the dark silhouetted veil of the cypress trees
That line the path I am following back home.
Perhaps it is the perfume still scenting the air about me,
My mind drifts back to the girl and the kiss.
A soft and lingering gentleness which,
like the teasing moon-smile in the corner of my eye,
hints at beauty
and of things more timeless than a stolen kiss
or a drive down a road.
The midnight celestial solitude mixed with a woman’s scent
Combines to send thought and feeling into swirls of current,
forming their own mosaic patterns that
flash both clarity and confusion.
The allegory of the road does not escape me
It leaves me wondering where all this will lead.
But even the PCH can’t take you where your heart wants to go.
Soon the lights of my destination approach
and rise up like a false, unwanted dawn,
defeating the glow of the setting moon.
Only then it becomes clear.
The memory of a kiss is like a Cheshire cat moon;
It briefly smiles upon you,
just out of reach,
and then,
all too soon;
below the horizon of your conscious
it sets.
Let Me Tell You a Story 