Destinations Never Reached
Remote and quiet in corners of forgotten fields,
Time’s hushed tones wander through the tall grass.
.
Along the way,
Stand relics of journeys long past,
Resting as abandoned and rusted history.
Once vibrant with purpose,
Engines firing with life,
Now stand as silent sentinels,
Guardians of corroded memories,
Their surface a decaying mosaic.
Cracked windows, shattered dreams,
Tires deflated, hopes long gone.
Nature reclaims what man has left,
Vines and wildflowers entwine through steel and glass,
A symphony of rust and rot.
In the swathe of Mother Earth,
Ghosts of passengers find peace,
As echoes of laughter,
Whispers of tears,
And stories etched in metal and dust,
Sustain the heart of this abandoned shell.
They speak of roads untraveled,
Of destinations never reached,
Of a time when they were kings,
Now humbled by the passage of years.
Yet…
In their stillness,
Beauty remains,
A testament to resilience and time,
For even in decay, they stand,
Silent, strong, and sublime
In the presence of Nature’s respect.
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But to car restorers who recognize the beauty you describe, it's that they call, patina. They will take an old relic like that, and either restore it to its former beauty, generally, with a great and safer undercarriage, suspension and wheels with a restored original engine. Or go ape on the car/truck and customize it with an engine that body never intended to have. Driven down the road with pride again, patina sealed or a brand-new flashy paint job. Newfound beauty to behold by car lovers everywhere.
A fellow doctoral student of mine from San Antonio, told the tale of him either finding or inheriting an old Dodge Brothers pickup truck. Behind the seat, he found a treasure trove of love letters written by the original owner. He was hooked on history and especially, the path of the Wright Brothers to human flight.
Those sunflowers are priceless.
Ron
I remember visiting some really stunning Roman ruins outside of Tripoli in Libya that most people will never get to see. Whole building and road systems still standing in that grand Roman architectural manner, with mosaics still gracing the floors of the houses of no doubt the wealthy, as you wrote as "silent sentinels. . . their surface as "guardians of a corroded mosaic. Destination never reached indeed.
Have a blessed August, Odin!