Riding the Bus Across Borders

The bus will reward you
With a tight company of people,
Short-range and short-term interactions,
And the occasional verbal explosion
When crossing a hole or bump
Or a difficult border.

The lights and the stops,
The necessary and long-awaited
Bathroom stops,
Mark the trip’s regular flow
And highlights:
Sandwiches and sodas,
The coffee the driver needs
To keep up his eyelids.

The songs undulate
With the road,
Their loud melodrama
Becoming the soundtrack
Of this temporary company,
Long after we have forgotten
The border cops,
Their stressful tricks,
The fears.

And we laugh
At the swear words
As the driver moves forward,
Piercing the night.

And we wake up
To light,
To the expectation of oranges,
The familiar road dust,
The road lying mellow
Through olive orchards
white buildings and rocks