While on a family trip in high school, I wondered about what it was like driving across a bridge at night, especially the foreboding type of bridges that were around the area I lived in. A few years later, I finally put my thoughts on paper. These bridges are the steel truss type which were widely in use until the 1970's and many of them are being replaced.

Crossing a bridge at night

The cars move steadily through

The Midwestern night,

Their path sure despite the treacherous land.

The lights point closely to the asphalt path leading

Across the river.

To cross, the vehicles must pass through

A monster's skeleton lurking knee-deep in the river

Driving like unsuspecting little animals

Fed to the behemoth.

They come through,

Then cruise into the night,

Streams of halogen light

Passing through the steel bones

into city streets or country darkness

Sometimes the skeleton lurks in the brush

Like the end of a jungle,

Other times like a dragon guarding a

Harmless little town.

Destination reached

But only by driving through

The remains of a harmless dinosaur.