Waiting patiently a quarter to one,
we heard the whistle blow.
I looked at the others, took deep breaths,
it’s almost time to go.
The train approached, there it was
bigger than life in front of me.
my first time to jump the coal train
and take that coal for free.
We ran with strength and agility,
sprung like jumping jacks.
Took our places a top the car,
zooming along the railroad tracks.
Quickly with all the strength we had,
we threw coal to the ground.
The next task was to bag it up
and sell it in our town.
The coal train came everyday
at a quarter to one,
my first day would be my last,
I put my coal bag down.
Another true story of my childhood in Sydney Nova
Scotia. Jumping the old coal train to make a few cents,
very little gain indeed. Looking back once again, I see
the danger of the act, for what was profited certainly
wasn’t worth all that. A word to the young, “stay out
of harms way, remain honest and true, the coal train
was not for me and certainly not for you.
Written: March 27/2007
Melvina Germain
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/152-the-coal-train-childhood-memory/
