Catharsis

Missour-y

Is it safe to keep on driving when your eyeballs are dissolving?
Is it prudent to speed onward while your breath comes in great gasps?
Is it smart to push the pedal on the right while you are wailing?
Is it wiser to pull over when your heart wants to collapse?

***

Missouri, you were boring; now I hate you with a passion
That eclipses even Kansas with it’s neverending plains.
But Missouri, poor Missouri, you were caught in circumstances.
Now forever I’ll remember that Missouri equals pain.

You can call this melodrama, not the trauma I proclaim
But I guarantee you, in Missouri you would feel the same.
When the road just keeps on stretching, and your stomach keeps on retching,
“Where’s St. Louis? Damn Missouri!” with hot fury you’d exclaim.

When the dream job you desired, one day offered, next day fired,
And you’re looking for a scapegoat on which to pin the blame:
“It’s Missouri! Yes, Missouri,” you irrationally claim.
By the time you reach St. Louis, you’re about to go insane.

But then you cross the border, and your temper starts to wane.
While you drive through Illinois and then Kentucky, what you gain
Is perspective and some distance from that state you will not name,
As God picks up the pieces and reminds you of His fame
As Protector and Provider and and the One who will Sustain.

He is bigger than Missouri, He is bigger than the rain
That cascades on all your plans and melts them back to mush again.
He always keeps His promises, so even when the strain
Of uncertainty and joblessness and monetary drain
Seems far to big to handle, just know this much remains:

God makes rainbows out of rain.
(Even in Missouri!)