You're sixty years too late
to feel that rumble glorify
your feet & drum a rhythm
into your sole.
Even the printing press is a ghost
& Waterloo Station
-abandoned clockwork-
awaits its next passenger.

I reminisce by this railway siding pond,
Musing on rail relics rattling on,
Recalling lives and times bygone,
But memories of their shades linger on,
The lonesome call of distant steam trains,
Eras that may never come again,
I see they're gone nowhere in particular,
Replaced by planes and transport vehicular,
I imagine queues on foggy platforms,
Awaiting the misted trains' shadow forms,
Standing by, expecting the status quo,
I blink my eyes, where did they all go?
Looking backwards along yesterday's track,
I'm no kid any more, get off my back,
I reflect and reminisce,
Nostalgia is for the times we miss,
I'll reminisce by the railway siding pond,
I recall the times and lives bygone,
As ghosts of rail relics keep rattling on......

We collided like a train rushing in from behind,
Your memory and I.
My breath stuck in my throat, unexpectedly.
Tears stinging my eyes, staining my cheeks, involuntarily.
Has your ghost been lingering, shadowed,
Waiting to spring upon me like a serpent in the grass?
Don't tempt me with that shattered past.
I'd gladly place the shards of history's heart back into your hands.
Blatantly disregarding every reserve my mind fires,
Happily risking it all just to taste our youth.
Begone with you phantom! If that's what you are.
Stay only if your monstrosity lingers well into our future.

Usual coincidences? Gard de Montparnasse, paranoia interpretations of mobile phoney?

I'm late again
for the train
not my period
except the one that
comes at the end of
this sentence.
I barely make it too
Saikyo-line
the worst place
for women and girls
but it's on the way so
I put up with it
even though it's packed
and hot and full of
sweaty people.
I'm lucky I guess
to find a seat.
There's a man beside me
dressed all for business
he doesn't look
in my direction
So I think nothing of it.
While I settle in
there's the slightest
brush against my arm
I react and then disregard it
as filtering air.
A few minutes go by
I text a friend on my phone
and the same brush comes again
but closer to my chest.
I react the same way
I move closer to the separator
and continue on with
my text.
More minutes pass
and there the touch comes
but now it's a grasp
low on my hip.
The boy across from me laughs
as I jump out from
where I was seated
but the business man
acts as if he was asleep.
I do nothing
Just like the boy laughing does.
and it goes on until
I get off
at the next stop.
There's a schoolgirl
that walks by me,
takes the seat where I sat
I should warn her, I think
but I keep moving on.
If you do nothing
Nothing gets done.

I’m
Paper-baggin’
It,
Paper,
Paper-baggin’
It,
“Oh lord!”
I’m paper-baggin’ it!

Alongside the rail come Neenah steel,
And foreboding, “Fox,” oh so tipsy,
Whispers, this meandering little missy.

I’m paper-baggin’ it!

And when Santa Fe’s now, near and
Her boyfriend’s whistle, prophecy’s clear,
So wills the way and away and away.

I’m
Paper-baggin’
It,
Paper,
Paper-baggin’
It,
“Oh lord!”
I’m paper-baggin’ it!

Ich will der nicht sein**
der auf deinen Zug wartet
der niemals kommt
Der, der die Anderen sieht
Leute, die sich umarmen auf’m Gleis
Die schnell weg vom Bahnhof verschwenden
Und da bleib ich noch
Ich guck’ ungeduldig an die Anzeigetafel
Die leer steht
Leer bleibt
Und dunkel wird
Ich will der nicht sein
der allein Heim fährt
Nacht ohne Wert
Heute Nacht bin ich der
Doch ich kann ehrlich sagen
Du bist das schönste Ding
Das mir vorbeigefahren ist

The moments fall like the raindrops
Every memory a raindrop makes

The axis of hope spins freely
Free is all we hope to be

There is no beginning to the end
It's simply called eternity

Lydia and I
ride a train
from the Elephant & Castle
to Victoria train station

we love the smell
of the steam train
that takes us there
the white and grey smoke

passes by
the train window
what did your mum say
when you asked

about going to Victoria
with me?
I ask
Lydia says

she looked at me
as if I’d farted
then said
asked your father

so I did and he said
-being sober and in
a good mood-
don't you two go

and elope away
together at least not
until you're 16 years old
and he laughed

and Mum just raised
her eyebrows
and tut-tutted
and Dad said

mind how you go
with that Benny boy
she smiles
and I take in

her straight cut hair
and the dull green dress
and grey cardigan
that's good

I say
I like it
when she's happy
and we get out

at Victoria and walk
along to the nearest seat
and sit down
to watch the steam trains

coming and going
maybe I’ll be
a train driver
when I’m older

I say
to be able to breathe
in the smell
of steam trains

and the sound of trains
and see them
Lydia says
black ones

and blue ones
and green ones
maybe I can be
a train driver too

she adds
do you think so?
yes that'd be good
I say

we can go off
to Scotland
and see the big castle
and see men

in kilts  
she says
we watch
as the steam train

takes off
the power of the train
the puff and shush
and shush

and she takes
my hand
and it's warm
on this little date

us two kids
of 8.

rolling away, away in space and time this loneliness feels so divine
nowhere to run nowhere to hide so roll,roll away down the crystal line