Rails

Rails
against the sun
steel glimmer fading fast
Rails
whose time has come
whose time was in the past
Rails
who changed the nation's face
shrinking large from vast
Rails
whose labored beds built from blood & sweat
men from harsher worlds worked harder still and yet
Rails
transport the myth, the gold, the crop, the seed
the legend of the West, the locomotive steed
Rails
lull me to sleep,
the click commits the clack
Rails
infect my dreams
where, never coming back
Rails
rode the hips of hills
the stockyards. Neal and Jack.
Rails
glisten in the blazing sun
whistle in the rain
Rails
away from here we run
Rails
...freedom on the train.

- 7/1/96 4:10-4:12 PM on the Express train to NYC from Wilmington

RAILS was also published in the poetry zine, A Hindu, A Buddhist & A Lion Tamer #2 (Folcroft, PA 1996)