Highway to Eleusis

 

I found myself driving on the Highway

cars upon cars upon cars on an eerie procession

And we were on our way downwards

spiraling to a drive-in purgatory of machines

Cinders from our past sins

were showering the windshield

and static was on the radio

an indistinct chatter of a lifetime of jouska*

Beside the concrete banks of our river of tar

colossal monuments laid in ruins

covered in burnt billboards that stretched as far as our eyes could see

advertising right choices, bliss and happiness

Smoke was rising from afar

and the sky was full of purple and yellows and reds

as heavy clouds were rushing through broken bridges that hung pointlessly above our heads

All the signs were signalling One Way and Dead-End and there was no rest area or next exits

Like hypnotised wagons we moved passing by stand-byers that were looking at us in despair

and as car by car by car was vanishing in the Eleusis of the void

there was a sense of relief in the air

that at least we held the steers

*Jouska: A hypothetical conversation that you compulsively play out in your head.

John Koenig - The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows