Brakelights on the Ramp

"Brakelights on the Ramp" (2026) Lyrics by J. Widener with AI-assisted music I-55 northbound, St. Louis drawing near Pulled off on an exit ramp when my hours disappeared Killed the engine, climbed in the sleeper for a graveyard kind of rest Moonlight on the gravel, quiet deep as death Woke up sometime after two with sweat along my neck Heart kicking like a hammer and I couldn’t place it yet Pulled the curtain back real slow and stared into the black Saw a sedan up the ramp with brake lights burning back Two figures moving softly along the edge of moonlight Something old inside me said don’t let the night decide I fired up that diesel hard, gears grinding into life Left those brakelights fading far behind me in black Missouri night Never saw their faces, never heard a single word But I felt the shape of danger in the stillness by that curb Rolled back onto the highway with my hands locked on the wheel Thanking God or whatever watches tired men out here Two silhouettes unfolding where the gravel met the weeds I could feel the whole night shifting somewhere underneath Now every time I pass that ramp I feel that same unease Wondering who they really were… and who they thought was me Maybe they were desperate Maybe they were lost Maybe something in me woke before the moment crossed Some instinct old as thunder turned the key before they spoke And carried me back northward through the black along the road Brake lights on the cutoff, red eyes in the dark I drove away that night before they ever got too close But sometimes when the highway hums beneath the Missouri sky I still see those brake lights burning somewhere in my mind Brake lights… Brake lights… Still glowing somewhere…