Merging Traffic

I look down from the sky
at the loops and curls
of the freeway lacing up
the heart of the mighty city
and marvel at the ingenuity and
complexity of the human mind.
Yet thousands upon thousands
cannot weave daily through
this engineered maze without
adhering to a simple concept
and sign: “Merging Traffic.”

Now, at 70, “Merging Traffic” is,
for me, a symbol of Life’s larger
vision: a joining of the many
into One—the eager and new
with the tired and worn,
the smooth and efficient with
the sputtering and lame, the pure
and flawless with the sullied
and scarred.

Yes, I’ve traveled this way
for a long, long time
and have, at last, succumbed
to the lure of the One.
But like users of freeways
everywhere, I still often buck
and chafe at the state of things
and at all that merging traffic.

© 2014 Dennis Ference