Stepping Off the Train

[GliderGuider]

Standing alone on the platform, bags in a heap beside me,
I feel the train as it pulls away.
Such an old-fashioned locomotive -
Sound and fury,
Steam and cinders,
Sturm und Drang.

How well I know that deep tectonic rumble -
I’ve lived on that train my entire life,
Moving from car to car.

What am I doing here on this platform, all alone,
Eyes watering,
Ears ringing,
Throat burning?
What sort of banishment is this?
Why have I been cast out of the train?
I paid for my ticket, after all,
Over and over again.

I wonder,
How will I ever find my way home?
Is there a home, out here in the cold alone?
Fear swims through like a school of silver fish,
Flashing scales and teeth.

The train converges out of sight,
The rumble fades,
The steam swirls away,
And in the settling stillness I gaze across the tracks.

On the far side a man stands facing me.
Like me he is
Alone beside a pile of baggage.
He looks back at me with a warm familiar dawning smile.
We raise our hands, and he shows me the sign we hold:

“Welcome Home”

[knowbody0]

1. thank you

this is lovely. welcome home, indeed.