by Mohamed Ali Elmaola
Motorway toll booths. TRL LTD./SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Universal Images Group
I know you know the routine too.
The glass shield mechanically regresses to its hidden holster.
You give me your price.
I silently complain.
I pay you regardless.
I pay you for your pleasure-less act of passive passage.
No smiles where there is no joy,
No words when there is no time,
No eyes when there is no person.
I grunt as I lunge forward.
You sigh as you take it in.
I give.
You press.
Our hands meet.
And the enchanted exchange has ended.
There lies no love
In your purely constant and repetitive business.
you transiently turn,
To the next customer,
My begging, soulless successor,
That awaits his turn at the toll booth.
Mohamed Ali Elmaola is a sophomore studying Psychology at Clark University, Worcester, Mass. He is also the owner and co-founder of the Worcester Soccer House, a program that offers free soccer clinics to young people.
Photo credit: Motorway toll booths. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Web. 14 Dec 2015.
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