Words for My Daughter

Snowbound

Tragedies of clouds still stumble over us
stalled in cars and tractor trailers
along the highway blocked at a mountain pass,
but now a track team from a chartered bus
has shoved a van past a jack-knifed trailer
and so, after long hours, a lane is cleared
for all the bickering parents and bratty kids
for truckers zonked on speed and nattering on CBs
for the long-hauler with straggly hair and no front teeth
who struck out in the snow to straighten things out
and who stomped back angry, for the snoozing salesmen,
for the old folks too shy to pee by the road
for the teenagers yelling in hormonal fits
for the wailing babies, for the diabetic
shooting his thigh behind a fogged windshield
for the lovers feeling lucky at being trapped together
and, oh, just wishing it were night
for all of us now inching forward in a glittering line
resuming our lives under a sweep of clearing sky.