Like Eternity
Growing up on the “Wrong Side of the Tracks”
You learned to live with certain things.
Just going outside for a walk
Was an adventure.
No forested hills full of shady paths
And trails to hike along.
Just concrete, asphalt and abandoned lots.
Living close to the tracks,
A mere block away
You could feel the train coming
Long before it passed through the neighborhood.
The earth would vibrate under
Your feet like a precursor to an earthquake.
You’d feel the vibration build to a roar
Then disappear to nothing as the
Sound of the whistle faded away.
I’d sit in my room listening
And feeling the trains come and go.
Oh, how I wanted to be on board one.
Anyone. It’s destination anywhere but here.
Those trains, they sounded like eternity to me.
But the reality was,
Those trains, they never stopped.
They never took me on board.
For Anna
Roy W. Backes
© 2021
Roy W. Backes - Poetry 