Seasonal traffic
A family Christmas visit
Six hours on the road
Off to see the other half of the family today. Not as straightforward a journey as predicted.
(27.12.25)
© Ben Quant 2025
Photo by Rūdolfs Paipa on Unsplash
Traffic
Poem 603 – An Ode to the A303
A303 (and associated roads),
nothing else can match your timeless reach!
Neighbouring Stonehenge has mystified us,
entranced us for millennia,
but even it pales into insignificance
compared to your majestic tarmac track.
We happily travel miles to congregate,
line up like creeping snakes to see your span.
Meditating for hours in your presence,
we while away the hours in wordless wonder,
as time stands still, as do we too, in cars
that queue for hours and hours and hours and hours…
The journey home from holiday in Devon today was not the quickest…
(09.08.25)
© Ben Quant 2025
Photo by Ana Paula Grimaldi on Unsplash
Poem 462 – Missing
All was quiet the first time we walked here –
except for the birds. The birds were singing loudly,
so loudly in fact that their melody hurt our ears.
Later, we learnt they were actually quieter than before, only now, devoid of cars and people,
their melody could actually be heard.
We walked this way again, today, without
the fear of meeting others. This time it was
the cars that shouted, roaring as they passed,
angry, desperate to be moving on.
I could see the birds were screaming but
their tortured song was muffled, faint and lost.
Five years on from the start of the pandemic, Spring is here, and with it the birds’ melodious song – if you can hear it, that is.
(22.03.25)
© Ben Quant 2025
Photo by Tyler Jamieson Moulton on Unsplash
Ode for the Day 