Derailment

 

I remember

walking the tracks

of our childhood

woven past the cemetary

filled with fictions

of forgotten souls

Together, we

laid down ties

in the long grass fields

filled with lies

and sticky milkweed cotton

on off Lord road

140,000 miles

of tracks

to travel

in this land 

we call home

They say 

it is against the law

of this land

to place

a penny

on the hot rolled steel

still we dared

flatten a few

for fun

never fearing

click-clack

contact

consequences

in the muggy Autum night

it wasn't until

that 

time

I walked

the empty Elk Grove tracks 

with your babies

beside me

staring out 

the horizon aching

in its endless expanse

I hear my words 

like the train whistle

in the wind

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

October Poetry Writing Month 2020

Day 29 of 31   

Inspired by the prompt to write a poem about tracks