Trains
Caron Andregg
From such humble places
Great journeys begin
From dirty suburban platforms
Crumbled candy wrappers, spent gum
Yesterdays Financial Times
Used and abandoned
Like last year's trophy wives
Commuters crowd benches
Grey as grim pavement
Coming and going
Going and coming
Joyless and bound
500 pound fine for spitting
Towns here remember
TB and Black Plague
Memory is long, here
Ancient carriages
Swinging wooden doors
Sway on track
Laid by Irish ancestors
Escaping blighted fields
Compartments smell
Of leather long removed
Of suitcases stuffed with dreams
Of children's fear and wonder
Big engine is going
Past office parks
Past suburban sprawl
Past endless switching tracks
At Crewe and on
To everywhere
New choices at each point
Great journey begins
