She was once considered
an architectural wonder of bridge making.
Reaching across a deep ravine
her wooden beauty was a marvel of mans design.
In her day she supported travelers on her wooded grandeur to destinations unknown.
The famous and the not so famous
put their faith in the creosoted timbers
stretching from cliff edge to cliff edge.
Horse�s hooves clip clopped on her sturdy deck,
gently shaking the structure with a rhythmical cadence,
creating symphonies of squeaking and cracking,
echoing in the chasm below.
As decades passed, the horse and buggy days
gave way to the automobile age.
Her beauty waned, as gas and oil
etched away at her aging wood craftsmanship.
Weakened by time, she groaned with agony.
She could no longer bear the weight.
Inspectors posted her as condemned.
The gravel path she used to connect
on either side of the great abyss
has become a concrete highway
rerouted to a handsome new steel bridge
attired in cadmium orange zinc chromate paint
erected beside her.
The whirring of rubber tires
speeding over metal grating,
is his signature song.
Nobody uses the wooden structure any more.
She is an antiquated relic of a time
left in the dust by progress.
She bares the marks of use and abuse
Her side rails are tattooed with many initialed hearts
by lovers of the past and a three word statement �
�I LOVE YOU�.
Vandals have made their statement too
with their ugly tainted obscenities.
Her dirt approach ramps, rutted and weedy,
share her abandonment.
Rickety and rotting �
refuse scattered over her tattered carcass,
she has regretfully evolved into
a bridge to no where.
