I, too, once looked like you.

Danced without fear

To entertain was my goal.

Distracted by a distant thought,

Describing my favorite movie to a friend,

Drove as if the road had no end.

 

I was not worried about what was in front.

Comfort was not compromised

For it was a road I had been before.

Lack of respect for the street was my biggest mistake.

 

Papa always said

You can’t drive a car looking through the rearview mirror

A statement applied to life

No seriousness involved.

He meant to not regret the past.

Move forward.

 

But he was right in a literal sense, too

Too focused on the car behind me,

I forgot to see the ones in front.

 

Text, email, call.

Said to be the culprit of it all.

Phone attached to hand without thought

That driving would need the attention

 

Technology isn’t the only dangerous tool;

Thoughts are just as harmful

To everyone- intelligent or fool.

 

I never touched my phone the entire ride

So how did I end up on the other side?

My thoughts were in a conversation

On the opposite spectrum of a police station.

 

It was night;

Dim, dim light

I looked to my right

Without the man in sight

Who was right in front of me.

Him, I didn’t see.

 

Still haunted by these images,

I hope you’d never have to see.

I didn’t hit him, but it was as close as could be.

 

For this poem, I didn’t have to make things up.

The emotion is raw

Distant from a statistic.

Though I could have been a number

That’s what people would have known.

But the emotion is what needs to be shown.

 

I hope you take my advice and focus on the road

Cars are more dangerous than a loaded gun

Able to kill a human or a toad

And it only takes one.

 

One mistake

One distraction

One loss of focus

 

Don’t be one.