That Road

I thought he was going to die
I thought the man was going to do it
As a mercy to his son to avoid some worse end
I thought I might not bear it
But I stumbled along despite the certain crisis
Or maybe because of it
Chasing the doomed pair along that cindered road
Hollow triumphs fueling my anxiety
Crashing like waves in a receding tide
That leave dead things on the beach for us to collect
And wonder at
But where the man lay cold and dead
Hollow eyes blind to the fearful trip come to its end
The boy lived a child of that road

-T. Weeks
(A response to “The City Dead-House” and The Road by Cormack McCarthy)