I went for another drive today
I often do that to pass some time
as it was too darn hot to take a hike
too late in the day to walk outside
I had no particular place in mind
just to jump in the car and let it define
the route that we would follow today
as we passed the time along the way
with an audiobook telling the words
read by an actor trained in this verse.

Listening to a Stephen King tale
what better way my thoughts to prevail
as he winds his magic his story to tell
and I try to guess what’s coming next
and will the good guys come out on top
or is it in his dastardly plot
that evil wins this particular tale
and the hero falls as he did fail
to foresee what should have been plain to most
the good over evil is not always the case
especially when Stephen King is the host.

The Dark Tower is the name of the piece
and actually, there are seven books in all
as I am nearing the end of book six
which means one more book to fall
I have yet to hear how it will end
and as this is next to the final book
I can only hope that good comes out on top
and the Gunslinger will find out what
is at the end of his terrible quest
the one that had driven him all of his life
in such a way so full of strife.

I have a very bad feeling that
I am not going to like the story I hear
of the characters that I know so well
that Susannah and Eddie, Jake and Oy
and Roland too are all going to die
and they in turn will never see
the Dark Tower in all of its mystery
but the only way that I will know
is to listen and hear the way it will go
and yet a part of me is so sad
the ending that’s coming will be very bad.

My favorite character in these books
is not one of the human kind
the animal lover in me prevails
and I am really cheering for Oy
and hope that he will see the day
and will be there with the boy
as the Billy Bumbler who is Jake’s friend.

Of one thing I can be pretty sure
King entertains me in such a way
that I drive my car and put on the miles
just to hear the words he will play
as he strings them together his story to say
and I feel I am going through hell today
the same as all of his characters tell
as he spins the web of his stories so well
as with the Tower, I’m sure I will find
it’s not the ending that I had in mind.

I have read a lot of Stephen King’s work
and seen those that are turned into film
and marvel at the mind of the man
as he bends the words to suit his will
as the stories unfold yet another twist
where does he get such wonderful thoughts
scary and horror and good versus bad
how does he make his mind work this way
and just when I think what next he will say
he is off somewhere else and I’ve lost the day.

And just as the Gunslinger said,”We deal in bullets, we deal in lead”.