I take my bike
Turn on the lights
And head out

For music, I put on something calm
Not melancholy, more introspective
Not too loud, just present at the edge
Set the mood, as it were

I want to get away
Just for a while
Pretend I’m alone
Get out of the house
Let my thoughts wander
Just for a bit

It’s been raining all day,
though now, it has stopped
Creeks are overflowing
Puddles litter the road
You can feel it in the air
A deeper kind of cold

I go out of the alley
Houses all around me
Across the road
Onto the bicycle path

The wind is stronger than I expected
I have to work against it
But the nice thing about that
Is it will help me return back home

Slowly, the density decreases
I cross a bigger road
And leave the town behind
Still, there are farms
Ample lighting

At one of the farms, I stop
I visit my friend
He’s always happy to see me
He smells, but what else do you expect
From a dog left outside in the rain
He doesn’t mind though
He’s just happy to be here

Then I take off once again
Going left, then following the road
Halting for a couple of seconds
To let a car pass
Which then pulls into a driveway
I guess he could have waited

Street lighting becomes sparse
Instead of a continuous presence
They become tiny beacons of light
Small islands
Specs of brigthness
In a sea of darkness

The sun fell behind the horizon a while ago
But a deep red is still visible
The final rays struggling to make it to my eyes
Bouncing off the water in the air

It becomes quieter still
I can see a farm house, but only far away
The only evidence, it’s small porch light
As I round the corner, another one pops up
It was hidden from my view behind a bunch of trees
But soon it’s left behind all the same

At the crossroads, I go right
A forest on one side, a farm on the other
One final house off in the distance
Closing in steadily

After I pass that, I’m truly alone
For a while, the only reminder of civilization
Is the road I ride on
And if I really try
Maybe I can make out the fence along it

In the distance, a train races along the tracks
The sound is unmistakable
The windows the only part that can really be seen
Rectangles of light, floating across my vision

At another bend in the road
I stop
I hear only a couple of crows
Along with the wind
Nothing else

I am alone

Then, headlights off in the distance
A car bursts my bubble
Oh well, time to go back home