These crosses in the ditch don’t say much
More than their names and that
They were killed at this intersection
Where the county road has the decency to
Stop and the highway the nerve to
Keep going. I suppose the crosses also say that
They were together. They don’t say that
Chad was driving the car he got for graduation,
Though I seem to see his father dangling
The keys teasingly over his palm. Nor do they
Say Hailey was sitting in the passenger seat,
Though one can more or less assume that
She was. It may be too much of a stretch to say that
She was running her hand through his hair
While he smoked a cigarette, or to say that
They were in love. The crosses certainly don’t
Say this. But they do say the date of the day
They died, though I doubt that
They died in the daytime. They died in the middle
Of the night, would be my guess. Nor do
The crosses say where they were going, or why
They were going there so fast, though it’s pretty
Clear to me that they weren’t
On the rude highway but on the courteous road,
And that they hadn’t put these rumble strips in yet,
The reason I slowed down enough to see them.
But one doesn’t have to stop to know that
Chad and Hailey didn’t.
So poignant. Hard to forget this one.