Roadside Ghost Gums, Simpson Desert, Stuart Highway, Near Tennant Creek, Northern Territory, Australia

The Ghosts I’ve Left Behind

In all these years of travel
Geographically
Professionally
Personally
Emotionally
I’ve stopped, from time to time
To look back and count
All the ghosts I’ve Left Behind

I’ve wondered, too
Is this the nature of travel
Or the nature of me

And how many future ghosts
Await their place
On some remote shoulder
Of the highways I traverse

Ghost Gum
Simpson Desert
Stuart Highway
Near Tennant Creek
Northern Territory, Australia

Taken during travels, 1994