Good Samaritan
Jan 8 2024
A car stopped on the shoulder,
an indistinct figure
leaning in
under a propped-up hood.
Fiddling randomly
with who-knows-what,
because, like me
he knows nothing of ignition,
internal combustion,
throttles, rods, exhaust.
But wants to look manly.
Is hoping for a sign.
Can't think of anything else to do,
night falling
stranded in the snow.
Eyes fixed
to the slippery road
and my windshield icing-up
I caught just a glimpse as I passed;
there, in my headlights, then gone,
vanishing into the murk.
I should have stopped
offered a ride
seen if I could help.
Not that I'm handy
but at last there’s moral support.
But, of course, I'd already gone too far.
Surely he’d called for a tow.
I couldn't safely stop.
And anyway, someone else will come along
soon enough.
The golden rule?
The good samaritan?
My Karmic score?
Next time, I vowed,
continuing to drive
warm and dry
in the cozy interior,
protected
by clever rationalization
and the anonymity
of modern life.
Do failure to act
and sins of omission
make me a bad person?
The small mercies
I churlishly withhold?
Will there be payback
as the moral universe
turns its gaze my way?
But life doesn't work like that.
Virtue is not rewarded
and vice gets off scot-free;
there is no justice
no afterlife.
The only sanction
is having to live with yourself.
And, some day
finding your own self
stranded on the side of the road
hood up
as car after car flies by,
no cell signal
and the engine ticking down
as it quickly loses heat.
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