The Last Metallica Album

The last Metallica album exploded towards me
through my car's speakers
and I heard the thrashing bass
keeping in time with the grooves on the pavement
down the vast reaches of highway 65, past
the emerald corn forests
waiting to be harvested
their tassels amber

Passing the cherry steel of the combines
greedily collecting
my song ravaged on
in that haunting melody and rhythem
continuously the sounds filling my car
through the rumble of the road and the quiet crops

I heard the guitar ascending through the octaves
and at last the climax of the solo came to be
as the rest of the band caught up
as i were
singing in my bucket seat looking at the calmness around
i saw the corn slowly bowing to the breeze and
i saw
the dust floating with it

The last Metallica album came to a close
on a symphony of sound
and the music burned through the speakers
the song's intensity dying away

No, I thought
this can't be the end