“Ode to a Van”
by Bill Ward
1999
My wife and I went on vacation
But we were not alone
We brought our favorite traveling companion –
Or maybe, he brought us.
He is a 1969 Volkswagen bus.
His odometer has rolled around to all zeroes
Who knows how many times.
His rusty dents and torn headliner
Show how he has lived
Since he was forged out of a pile of sheet metal and steel frame
In a hot noisy German factory
By sweating men
Living on the edge of the cold war frontier.
This symbol of peace, love, and happiness took form
Two years before I was born.
He has trouble, sometimes, getting up hills
Laden down with our camping gear
And ourselves
Climbing up a steep mountain pass
On the Interstate freeway
At 25 miles an hour
Being passed by heavily-laden trucks
Piled high with redwood lumber,
Gasoline, and other things.
Every part of the van tells a story.
Rusty dents speak of minor mishaps
Which have occurred in his life,
Like scars from injuries sustained while doing
Difficult, honorable work.
Painful wounds have become smudges of rust.
Long hours of toil are shown by oil, grease, and dirt
On his engine and undercarriage.
Tears in the headliner speak of times he has carried
All our worldly possessions to a new home.
The non-working gas gauge tells of the time
He was stolen and abandoned at a gas station,
Full of fuel.
Every tear, dent, smudge
Every spot painted over with Rust-oleum
Every non-working or damaged part
Tells us how he has lived his life
And will continue on down the road as we seek
Our path in this world.
© 1999 William R. Ward
All Rights Reserved
September 13, 1999
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