Red River Stop

The red lights bleed, a river stopped,

my foot on brake, then gently dropped.

The engine idles, soft and low,

nowhere to be, nowhere to go.

A man in white, two cars ahead,

just picks his nose inside his head.

My own mind wanders, slow and deep,

to secrets that the silence keeps.

The exhaust fumes, a hazy line,

the sky above, a dull design.

And suddenly, a thought so clear,

it cuts the haze, it brings a tear.

Then honking starts, the stream moves on.

The thought is trapped, the moment gone.