The Las Vegas Sestina

Snowy whiteness filled the valley
As the air began to freeze, the rain
Thickened and the wind
Whipped the snow around the truck
With a force indescribable by my pen
The trucker was a young man without sin

The trucker drove with a clear head. Sin
Was behind him. In the valley
Road ahead a state trooper wrote a ticket with his pen
The trooper stooped to the window as rain
Froze and then unfroze and dripped as the truck
Passed. The trooper glanced up and then shrugged into the wind

From his view in the cab, the trucker could see the wind
Ripple the trooper's jacket. As he continued to put miles between him and the sin
City behind him, the trucker relaxed. His rig, his truck
Had survived the evil place and as he now drove up the valley
He realized he would survive this moment. And as his emotions rained
Down around him like rose pedals he chewed on the cap of a pen

The driver signed the ticket with remorse, then paused to re-cap his pen
As the cop retreated for the final time, the driver, as a gesture of respect, broke wind
And then pulled out, into the meandering flow of traffic. The rain
Had turned to snow and now the driver would pay for his sins
The driver accelerated up the slick road that divided the valley
His only fault was his lead foot, which led him to lose control and strike the cab of a truck

The driver of the truck,
Our fearless trucker, had no choice but to jaw down on the pen
Cap and hold on as the valley
Began to rotate and his rig began to tip. The wind
Laughed and watched as the fatal accident began and all the sins
And karma of the drivers came down on them like rain

The storm continued to rage around the now defunct vehicles. The rain
Had fully turned to snow and as it lighted upon the truck
It softened the edges. Turning the twisted metal into something without sin
As the snow fell the drivers' souls rose and then they were judged by the stroke of a pen
The trucker, now free of life was also free of sin and he road to heaven on a western wind
The driver, whose heart was heavy with guilt, fell into a dark valley

That night the valley was full of tears that fell like rain
The wind howled and echoed the feelings of all that knew the truck
Driver. Not many cared for the other man whose bureaucratic pen had caused many a sin