Your eyes possessed the sunset of tomorrow
And denies the sunrise of today
Your callused hands burnt from the struggles
Yet flimsy with superfluous abandonments
Like empty stations, you futilely wait
To be filled, but in your sleep
You have forgotten the weight
Of your ethereal passengers
Encumbering your peaceful calm
I watched you watch the railroad tracks
But they never altered, do they?
I watched you watch the passing trains
And the faces antagonizing the ferry
For they are the faces of departing,
Faces of the arriving - unstained
Of any rue or purpose, aren't they?
A bloated gloaming came
And I espied you once again
Musing on the shaking ground
And the minutiae pyrotechnics
Bubbling in the railroad track
A resolute ruse upon your fisted hands
And a-letting go upon the other
The babel of voices came with a roar
And the alloy beast was before you
In this bending slope of the track
It decelerated speed while you
Grew stronger to face defeat
Before the last trail fade
You finally moved and morose
Was basking in the shadows you left
As you free-ride and surf the train
And there as a glow upon you:
A flicker of life pawned for a requiem
Is this what makes you safe?
Disentangling tethers that promised forever
Perhaps you knew that forever is a lie
Is this what makes you brave?
Departing the amiable promises
And saving cities from tragedies
Is this your fate?
Or your maneuver against it?
Before the mousetrap closes
I flung myself into the train
Now I come for oblivion
With ten thousand reasons
And ten million footsteps
I will never build a home.
Norman Santos
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-railroad-man/
