Loaded with stolen dreams and forgotten memories,
Sparks and ash streaming with each exhalation,
The midnight train escaped the weathered depot
And steamed out across the vanished landscape.
Cattle raised sleepy eyes and muttered closer
As the disembodied whistle pierced the winter sky.
Dogs stole a few more inches of forbidden quilt
As children snuggled deeper into feather beds.
The insistent rattle of iron wheels on iron rails
Rushed and disappeared across the snowy fields.
Flashing barriers descend to deny
The faint of heart and hard of hearing access.
As the train slows for a curve a shadowy figure
Slips into an empty cattle car
Burrows into the leftover straw and dozes off.
The train gathers speed and stretches out
Heading for the distant mountains,
Now just thicker lines on the far horizon.
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