I saw a rainbow over the highway today,
as I drove away from where I left my heart
and I could feel the tug of those strings
strung along the red ridge of those colors,
arching back to you,
like my thoughts as I listen to Ryan Adams
singing that love doesn't play games anymore
and the words are beautiful,
but they don't touch me here
because I can't agree to that.

I drive into the evening,
into the setting sun
watching the sky swallow that one rainbow
and be embodied by color
covering the atmosphere from horizon to horizon -
wisps of clouds as jewelry,
the sun a crown of molten gold -
and I appreciate the irony
of driving west into a ball of fire
when I left my only light back in the east.

I turn the engine off when my road comes to an end,
just as the sun sinks beyond the rim of earth,
plunging me into the darkness alone
and I realize how empty darkness can be
when I have no heart or light to fight it,
having left the stars with you,
like so much else,
and I thought of Ryan Adams again,
agreeing with a meaning he didn't intend,
for this is certainly not a game.

01/18/2004

Author's Note: Inspired on a drive from school to home. No boy somewhere that this is about. Just writing. Revised slightly May 2007.

Posted on 01/19/2004
Copyright © 2025 Amanda J Cobb