Layby Night

Truck stops for the night

There’s a bed in the cab

14 hours driving

In weather wet and drab

Rain slides down the windscreen

Life slips beneath the drivers door

This time last year he said

I’m not doing this anymore

It’s 3am the road is bare

He’s wide awake needing sleep

He thinks of his job

And likens it to sheep

Sent out into a field

To graze until the cull

And the counting has stopped

Because he found it too dull

He’s a long way from home

And far away from the life

He wishes he could hold close

No fun walking the edge of a knife

This night is full of sighs

And stars that won’t fall

He opens a window

To hear an Owl’s call

Tomorrow is whispering

That today is here

Its 6am he stretches outside

Wipes his eyes clear

Only to see nothing has changed

It’s still raining, and his job still stinks

But what else can a man do

He departs the layby and joins the queue

©JMcN 2019