I leave work
A day of e-mailing, tweeting
Rapid-fire transmissions
Particles of communication
A train of thoughts
Industry today.
Along a country road
I find myself waiting at a railroad crossing
As a freight train passes
A line of cars in a queue
For five minutes or more
As cargo rumbles by.
A 19th-century remnant
Still important today
Transporting products heavy and real
On a dark winter night.
A train that must be miles long
A behemoth
Whose solid form rolling down the track
Still makes the earth tremble.
— Ilene Dube
Dube is a frequent contributor to U.S. 1.
