Snowed In/Cruisin'

This is about driving through a snowstorm through night.

Onward through a snowy tomb
I didn’t fall asleep in my seat
Two white-knuckle death-grips:
One at the top of the wheel
One wrapped firmly around a large double-double
(Please Play Again)
Urged forth
First by Rogers of Stan
Then, The Tragically Hip
For Hugh Maclennan!
For Make and Break Harbour!
Onward!

Fare the well brothers and sisters of the road -
I know we are kindred spirits.
In this together,
Because we are out here together
Know that I love you,
But I must press forth
And leave you behind
For I have promises to keep
And many miles to drive before I sleep.
I will break this path for you,
But be warned:
When all is white,
I make no distinction between road, shoulder, ditch

Author's Note

I borrowed some of the lines - but it was done in tribute. This is unabashedly Canadian. I wrote it mostly for Canadians - there are a number of specific references. A double-double is a Tim Horton's coffee (two cream, two sugar). Please Play Again references a popular contest they're having. Tragically Hip is a Canadian band and Stan Rogers is a Canadian folk icon. I was listening to both as I drove. The lines after their names are dropped are references to their songs. The title is stolen from a Joel Plaskett song that is two songs usually presented as one, and fit the idea here quite nicely.

But if you can get by those references (even better if you get them), I think it does a pretty good job of capturing the feeling of driving through a snowstorm at night.

Reviews

[CynicalxDreamer]

"For I have promises to keep
And many miles to drive before I sleep"

How very Frostian of your, sir. I enjoy the poem but those lines stood out and made me reference Robert Frost's poem.

[dparchibald]

I definitely, blatantly, stole/borrowed them from Robert Frost. It was my hope that they were obvious enough to be recognized as his. I meant to pay homage. It's something I say all the time, and definitely felt as I left the others behind (on the road).

I may put them in quotations (to really highlight the fact they're borrowed) and try to come up with some other lines of my own to put in there. But at the same time, sometimes I think if someone else said it so well already, why try and re-say it myself?

Thank you for the comment. This particular poem is so heavily steeped in references and borrowing I was concerned with whether or not I crossed the line.

[CynicalxDreamer]

I'm not calling you out to say you did steal them or the like. I was merely indicating I understood the reference.