The road has a stolid memory

The road has a stolid memory

I find that reassuring

Too many times I’ve driven

I-40 the length of Tennessee

First west to east

And now east to west

While I was taught that one direction

Has no memory of the other

Based on the immutable laws

Of physics and forgiveness

I can’t help but see those memories

Replayed any time I take to the road

The road zigs and zags across my mind

Like scars across the landscape

My hands fumble across them

Like a bad habit and I wince

A little at the mark they’ve made

But I can’t invalidate their existence

Because just as the mile markers

Were necessary to get me from there to here

Each exit offering rest, refuel, renewal

So have these memories pieced together

The whole of who I am

Though the sum is greater than the parts

So keep on coming, these lines on the road

And keep me from internalizing

The heavy load I feel with the passing

The road has a stolid memory

Even when I cannot

But I’ve learned to trust it’s winding