Uncertainty

When the driveway
has lain barren
for far too long,
every approaching
pair of headlights,
seductively shimmering,
proceeds
purposefully past
into the dark, and
the expectant bed
is clammy with
anxious vacancy,
the lithium cell
exhales decisively
its final spark
and the ninety-eighth
fevered call
to a phone that
refuses engagement
suddenly
extinguishes.