Fog on the Midnight Highway

Headlights slash the soaked black road,

a sudden brake, a heart’s quick jerk.

Red glints smear on cracked guardrails,

fog swallowing sound, a breathless work.

The asphalt mirrors orange streetlamps,

a spill of light in moist night’s clutch.

Tires hiss over wet seams,

a fragile pulse, a frozen touch.

Shadows stretch long beneath the mist,

a car ahead, then gone, then near.

The road hums low like whispered threat,

a river cold and dark and sheer.