Aubade Lake Erie
The young Merton hitch-hiking through Ohio serenades
his marvelous cousin the hay-colored sun, and stands fevered
beside the vineyards of bleeding grape and bearded corn
begging rides from the transports speeding past.
He can’t run after these motorized rickshaws like
Gautama Buddha did and beg for rice; these metal beasts
move too fast for human feet. And their cruise controls are set
to make no stops for mendicants.
Every 100 miles these metal beasts are coaxed to a halt
over weigh-scales where the government calculates
the gravity of the western freight. Their tallies confirm that
they are stuffed with food destined to feed the over-fed with more.
While these double-bottomed dromedaries blur defiantly past the
supplicating Merton with their mud flaps waving sayonara, he continues
to serenade his marvelous cousin the hay-colored sun, that shines
down on the transplanted vineyards from his native France.