They texted back, the party was
Thirty minutes up the beach
Come join us!
Clutching a beer, I readily agreed
And paid the meal before ordering a taxi.
It arrived, a white and enormous van
Take me to the beach!
I proclaimed jubilantly
Climbing into the cavernous back seat
The driver did not share my enthusiasm
As he gingerly directed the white whale over speed bumps.
Finally, driving out of town
I saw his logic
Cradled in the seat’s recesses
I saw the outlines of passing palm trees
Against a moonlit sky
The dim and filtered white light making the visages clear.
It was a view outside of time
That my recently hungover
And recently not, mind
Could barely comprehend
But in the darkness of that excessively empty back seat
I could be humbled, and was
By the fact I could be a spectator
To such precisely arranged beauty.
I am not proud of my lifestyle
Listless without location
Oscillating between lucidity and otherwise
But if it brings me this
Then I am happy.