“Bread crumbs”(perhaps how you got here)

One time, in our writers’ club, someone challenged us to write something on the theme, “If you were a car, what kind of car would you be, and why?”. So here’s mine:

If You Were a Car, What Kind of Car Would You Be, And Why?

Were I a little car,
I would be there when I was needed, but not obtrusive;
I would be neither close nor far
Were I a glorious automobile, with cousins high and proud,
I would be not impressive, but inclusive,
And anyone could get in without stopping to wipe his feet,
Except maybe when he wanted to do that;
I would be uproarious with laughter, but not too loud.
 

Were I a motor vehicle with brothers ever so speedy,
Or perhaps with a sister limousine very stately,
I would rather be well-used and dented,
A little bit of a has-been, maybe rather seedy.
 

Were I a car that had a choice,
I would turn back to 1950, and would let a little boy climb joyfully all over;
I would let him play at being big, driving his own family somewhere,
For those rare sun-shot mornings will come upon him all too soon,
Then pass away before he perceives the passage.

Were I a car that had a task to do,
I would make without a fault those daily trips to visit an old woman dying
For she was the one who still in her last moments
Looked back with love and longing to a day when she and her husband
Bought that first new car of theirs, in nineteen forty-one.
I would do those daily trips faithfully until the end.

Were I a car that sat parked outdoors in every kind of day and night,
Or perhaps a lucky car that slept cozy in a vast garage,
I would long for human happiness and memories with all my mechanical might.

 All text on this page is the work of J W Durham and is licensed only under terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Other licensing terms may be available. E-mail me