The Day the Road Ended



On this date in nineteen hundred eighty-five

A road was declared invalid, and decertified

Originally, it had stretched halfway across the land

From Santa Monica, California, all the way inland



Ending up in Chicago, Illinois, at the Great Lakes

Some two thousand miles eastward, the road snaked

Winding its way through all the southwestern states

Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, then traipsed



North through Kansas, Missouri and then into Illinois

Heading directly to Chicago and all that city's joys

A journey encompassing eight states of the west ...

Stretching some two thousand miles - quite a test ...



But after the interstate highways were all finished ...

It was discovered Route Sixty-Six was so diminished

There wasn't enough left of it to make it a viable road

As it had been cut into pieces, and then left to erode 



And so it was decided to nullify the route's existence

And declare it decertified, which means - no presence

Which - all who attempt to follow it, will soon know ...

As the road disappears into desert, covered with a show



... Of jackrabbits ... all scurrying and jumping about ...

Covering your car and making it impossible to get out

Unless you step hard on the pedal and say a prayer

Eventually, accelerating out from under their layer



And then ... you have to search hard for a valid road

For Route Sixty-Six, and its signs ... no longer glow ...

And, eventually, you must abandon your adherence

Taking another route ... just in order to keep steering ...



- Tristram



© Christopher W. Thomas

written at 1:15pm Mon. 6/28/99

for the date - June 27th, 1999