Freeways and Signs

Remember when roadmaps were free and Coke was a dime?

And you’d even slow down to read the BURMA-SHAVE sign?

There were road signs enough to play the alphabet game,

But now with the hurry it’s just not the same.

A few hundred miles sometimes took days

But the roads were more than a dull cement maze.

Now that  was a restaurant that we’d always pass!

The signs are all gone and the freeways are fast;

But you don’t see the view until you’ve gone past.

You get there much faster with freeways and such –

But somehow you don’t enjoy the trip nearly as much.

The kids all get bored with nothing to do,

And you feel like you’re driving a traveling zoo!

I’d like once again to read the cute signs;

To take an old road unchanged by the times.

We need to take time to travel and enjoy the drive –

To be able to visit and know we’re alive.

Instead we’re caught up in the modern day race,

And some days I’m just not up to the pace.

We need to slow down and enjoy the view

Before it’s too late to change what we do.

The trip should be enjoyed for what it can give,

Instead of a struggle just to get there alive.

                                                            Rockwell D. Smith

                                                            Summer 1982