The Back of Nowhere

Stranded in the back of nowhere,
I stood and looked around
at nothing but a tired landscape,
just green-less, arid ground.

I stared far off into the distance,
where nothing caught my eye.
Just emptiness to the horizon
beneath a star filled sky.

The lonely road was also empty,
no car or truck in sight.
It looked like I was on my own
to face a long, long night.

I knew I should have filled my tank
when I had stopped for gas.
But I just got ten dollars worth.
Well, this could be my ass.

Who knew what critters wandered here?
Just looking for a bite.
My senses were on high alert,
a case of fight or flight.

Just then I saw two headlights glow.
I wiped sweat off my brow.
It looked like help was on the way
and I’d pull through somehow.

Then finally a car pulled close.
A window rolled on down.
The guy inside was looking grim.
He wore a troubled frown.

He said that he’d been lost for hours,
and could I help him out?
I knew this guy could not save me.
Yeah, there was little doubt.

He told me he was out of gas.
I looked down at his gauge.
I doubted it had worked in years,
just judging by its age.

Not only was his car no good,
he had no food to share.
So now the two of us were stuck,
a sad and helpless pair.

So we sat down to spend the night
and shared a cigarette.
This was a low part in my life,
as bad as it could get.

The stranger talked about his life,
the troubles he had seen.
As bad as my poor life had been
his own was truly mean.

He’d been abandoned very young
and that was just the start.
He grew up in a foster home
but they had grown apart.

The odd thing was the way he looked.
Yeah, something in his eyes.
I could be looking at myself.
That came as a surprise.

And as I listened to his tale
a thought began to grow.
I tried to push that feeling back.
Did I really want to know?

I’d heard the story from my aunt
after my mother passed.
That she had had another child
and now I stared aghast.

Hey, could this be my brother here?
Did that make any sense?
And as I listened to him talk,
my gaze grew more intense.

He noticed how I looked at him
and asked me what was wrong.
I couldn’t speak to him at first;
my feelings were so strong.

So then I simply smiled at him
and said I was okay.
I had to think on this some more.
Who’d believe me anyway?

There’s likely no relationship
and yet we’re both the same.
We share a common way of life,
if not the same last name.

And as we spent the night out there
I made myself a vow
that we would help each other out.
That we’d pull through somehow.

The morning brought us some relief,
a local passing by.
He gave us gas and wished us well.
We were no longer dry.

His name was Ted, this guy I met.
I told him mine was Bill.
We left together from that place
and we’re together still.

I treat him as a brother now.
I don’t know if it’s true.
But we had bonded way out there,
the way you seldom do.

So way out in the back of nowhere
we got a brand new start.
We live the way that brothers do.
We’re never far apart.