Railroad Tracks
Side by side, we lie level
on a bed of stone.
When you, my other rail,
pull me to the right,
I pull you back.
But when I’m bending far,
I too feel the tug of the ties
beneath me.
In this way
we cross the desert.
Hot to the touch
in the heat of the day,
the children lay coins
on our backs. Soon,
the weight of the world
will be rushing
between us
in screeching sparks.
But first the thundering
hum of our harmony,
and then how long
it lingers after.
*
Timothy Green works as editor of Rattle and is the author of American Fractal (Red Hen Press). He also serves on the board of the Wrightwood Arts Center and is a contributing columnist for the Press-Enterprise.
Oh Wonderful! Tim! This poem! These two-line stanzas, little tracks that lead us toward such momentary and long lasting love. Dang! what a surprising and heart opening use of metaphor here–and the sound, the hum at the end, wow.
Lovely. I won’t soon forget those train tracks (and assume what I finally do they’l find their way into a poem of mine. 😉
Beautiful poem. So delicate, like a fine perception, so fine a sense of the slight typically unnoticed alignment of life and connectedness of.. of.. all. Of love.. of unknown connection, of reliance of each and every part… one thing alone, yet magnificent in its requirement for something greater.. well, i think i went on past my past
But I adore this poem. A treasure. I love this voice of seeming simplicity, clear as a first year math equation, a voice unadorned with clutter, instead mere steely in details… connecting…
Thank you Tim. My take of it may be way off but this poem is still singing. I’ll be rereading and remembering.
Time for a book? I am past ready… appreciate
Fabulous piece! I especially like the theme, metaphor and flow