view from the car

the car moves without asking anything from me

two hours of quiet sitting between where i am

and where i am supposed to be

i don’t talk

the silence feels kind

like it knows i need it

i keep looking outside

the way you do when you want to feel

but don’t know what to say

the city keeps changing

buildings thinning into trees

noise loosening its grip

and then Cubbon park passes by

i have never walked there

never stopped

only moved through it like a thought you don’t follow

but today i notice a yellow tree

standing like it has seen enough lives

to know how to stay still

it feels full of stories

ones it will never tell

but somehow understands

looking outside usually makes me sleep

the motion is gentle

like being carried

but today i stay awake

cars pass by

each one breathing out smoke

filling the air with carbon and heat

while inside them

people are carrying heavier things

someone is crying

their goodbye still sitting in their chest

someone else is smiling

ready to leave this city behind

hoping the next place will be kinder

someone is traveling for a funeral

holding grief carefully

so it does not spill

someone else is flying for a wedding

already hearing laughter before it happens

someone is about to meet a new baby

someone is packing their whole life

into a few bags

calling it relocation

calling it courage

it feels unreal

how much love can exist

inside moving vehicles

how many beginnings and endings

can share the same road

by the last fifteen minutes

my eyes finally close

sleep takes me 

and even there

a story forms

when i wake

i realize the journey was never empty

it was filled with people i will never know

yet somehow

for those two quiet hours

i carried them with me