A Freight Train


A freight train rumbled behind my back
Stacked with tinder
Aching with the ages of time
Stripped trim into docile planks
As I reflected on the human condition
And what the salvation from toil costs:

The metallic hulk near,
The fission furnaces afar,
The brave new words like
High tension cables festooned are
All connected quietly 
In submssion to the human will.

But flesh will be charred to a cinder
And at the slightest error
Or maybe an earthly tremor,
We will be gone,
Crushed to the bone
And I will pass through once again
This moment of intimate terror.

Chiusi, 11 9 2009