Poem: Train

 I've been thinking over a concept for about two years and decided to try to put it in to a poem. So many times life throws the bad at us while something beautiful is happening. One day our family was enjoying the last day of a fun soccer season. The weather was sunny, breezy and warm. The kids were jumping into the van laughing and sharing stories of the day's games and the pizza party. We had the together feeling; family and goodness. I remember thinking it was a perfect moment of joy. Then I got a text letting us know that a family we had been investing in had lost their young mom to suicide. It stopped me in my tracks, sitting in the front seat in shock. And that's what life is like. The beautiful and the devasting happen often right at the same time. Maybe it's grace? Enough good to help us in the trials?

Train

On the train

Tattered overnight bag in my lap

Leather handles smooth in my fingers

Seats are empty

I travel alone

Quiet

The tracks under the floor rumble in a comforting rhythm

Strange experience this 

Train

I look out 

Clear window on my left

I inhale deeply

Beauty

Green leafy trees brush glass as the 

Train ticks by

Bright sunshine

Soft breeze

Children laughing on a set of swings, higher and higher

Picnic table by a lake

Shining water in the light

A trail up a mountainside

Log cabin with a stream of gray smoke 

Ascending in a smooth line

A couple holding hands

Walking along a white sandy beach

Toes in the water at the shoreline

A little town with a coffeeshop 

Scent of fresh bacon sizzling and coffee brewing fills the 

Train car

I inhale deeply

Smile

Stretch my legs out in front of me

My seat is soft and velvety

I look to my right

Rub my eyes

Suddenly

Dark

Shadows blur by

Trees have turned into

Claws

Sun to 

Rain pelting the windows, they start to 

Crack

How long before the break and

Shatter in the storm

The breeze is an angry wind

Lightening cuts the sky, explodes

Sparks burst into the darkness

Train tips and shakes

I grab the seat in front of me

Hold tightly

My grip is the only thing

Holding me steady

Long cruel arms of the trees

Wrap around the train

Try to rip it from the track

All is darkness

Until

I look to the left

Calm

Snow falling gently

Pure white feathers

Floating down 

Covering the land in inches then feet of 

Downy diamonds

Sweet cinnamon fills the air

Warmth

My bag pops open

A thermos of hot coffee, a sweet roll are ready

I pour coffee into a pink mug

Sip, savor, relish the richness

Sweet roll to my lips

Is this heaven?

Mug warming my cold hands

Look to the right

Darkness, fury, storm

I close my eyes

Warm hands, quiet breath

Music begins

Melody of gladness

Strain of dissonance, conflict

Then clear, gentle, bright

Melody

Flute trilling the song

Bluebird rising

Life.

photo credit: Dirk Vetter/ pixabay