Dear Ends

When the road behind you
is littered with bodies
of those you once loved,
when dead end signs loom
over each hill, when age
pockmarks your morphing skin,
the mermaids swim to shore
and call your name.

Seaweed 'round their necks
they lead you into waters where dolphins
leapt and great whales spewed,
past junk-cluttered reefs, dying
fish and great turtles struggling
in plastic and hooks.

Your tears blend with theirs
as they return you to shore, back
to your road where night shutters
down over pale-eyed scavengers 
and lost yellow dogs.                          

Pris Campbell
 © 2014

In Rusty Truck Journal June 2014

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