Covet

Very simple. Less about the prose than the overall message...

So, my neighbor had this car.
It was truly unique.
I don't think I'd ever seen one like it.
It must've been custom made,
but I'm telling you, it was a work of art.
The body was absolutely beautiful.

Smooth contour.
Perfect color.

This is gonna sound crazy, but I swear, it actually glowed.
Mmmm, and the sound.

Powerful.
Graceful.

Now this neighborhood is something else.
I mean, there were beautiful cars everywhere....
But none like this one.
She made all the other cars look like go-carts.

Kiddie toys.

She was the real deal.
I stopped noticing other vehicles.
I would drive them,
but it's like I wasn't really there.


EVERY...SINGLE...NIGHT,
I walked past this marvel of modern day engineering.
I could see myself reflected in it's tinted windows.
I don't know what it was about these windows, but I swear they MADE ME look better.

Castles in the air.
Fantasies.
Day dreams.

This is what became of my life.
Visions of midnight drives crept into my head like fog on a cool night.
I heard her engine purr.
I felt her power.
I drove her over and over again.
Then, I'd awaken.

Heartbroken.
Empty.

One night, as I'm walking past,
something really strange happened.
I'm four paces from the rear bumper,
when the driver's side door springs open.
Hmmm! That's pretty odd.
Was I dreaming?
It felt like a dream.
I kept walking, afraid of the consequences I would face if I had gotten in.

The wanting.
The craving.

The desire burned with heightened intensity.
Completely consumed.

I woke up thinking of her.
I slumbered thinking of her...
and everything in between...

COMPLETELY... CONSUMED...


Now this became a nightly ritual.
I strolled by and she opened herself to me.
Beckoning me.

I wanted to answer more than anything, but how could I?
But there was something different this night...
I looked around.

Desolation.
Emptiness.

Her door opened and I crawled inside.
I looked around.
Now, with this closer look, I can clearly see that I've underestimated her beauty.
The interior was simultaneously soft and welcoming, yet firm and strong.
I looked around.
I noticed a plethora of gadgets and trinkets.
Ah! She's intelligent too.

I must admit, she had it all.
I thought of throwing caution to the wind.
I looked around.
No keys.
Looks like the dream was to be derailed.
That's ok!
Even this peek was more stimulating than anything I'd felt in a long while.
I rested my hands gently on her steering wheel and stared into the rear-view mirror.
What I saw.... was happiness.
However brief.
Any passerby who would have looked,
would have seen that this was a perfect fit,
but alas...
there was no one.


I relived that moment a hundred times.
Maybe a thousand.
Did I go too far?
Did I not go far enough?
We are taught that we shall not covet.
We are taught to take that which we want.
Conflicting lessons to live by.
The line between right and wrong is not always clearly defined.
As I'm walking, pondering these questions,
I look up and realize that I'm next to her.
Her door is open.
The key is in the ignition.
I look around.
Decisions...
Decisions...

Reviews

[quinfinn]

to covet....is it wrong? i think we all do it. you remind me of my fave car. i used to have a 69 fastback mustang with craig hijackers/ 351 windsor engine with factory glass pacs, chrome reverse slotted mags all around and 4 on the floor and black racing stripes over metallic gold finish....lift springs in the back and had to put cinderblocks in the trunk to keep from fishtailing on the drop....purred like a tiger in heat, that one! this sounds like real life combined with a mechanics wildest dreams. loved it!

[Singing Bird]

Oh and by the way couldn't find any spelling mistakes, but then again I have been accused of making up words......But ya get that!

[Daniel Malone]

Supposedly Shakespeare coined 1700 hundred words that were not accepted as words before he wrote them. Maybe you didn't make up words in your work, but if you did that should be celebrated rather than condemned. Sometimes language is not capable of describing the complexities of our pondering. As far as the spelling, I still don't see any mistakes, but I'm not resigned to the thought that they aren't there. ;)

[Singing Bird]

Hey Daniel, your poem I enjoyed immensely. Clever, articulate to the max.
You took me physically into it, moment by moment as well as mentally.
I felt like I'd gone fishing ....but after all maybe I was the fish in the water
tempted by the bait?
Sometimes I suspect we step into alternate dimensions, so which one were
you in when the car door opened? Maybe we don't dream at all.
Quanderous wandering.......You've set me wondering....Congrats.

[Daniel Malone]

Do you know how I know you're a writer? I can tell that even within a casual dialogue, you choose your words carefully. Thank you for reading and once again for the very kind words.

[Alina]

So different than your other poem. You have a way with words. Don't stop writing!!

[Daniel Malone]

Thank you so much!