Somewhere in the Darkness

(He just slipped away)

Photo by Paul Hutton on Unsplash

The back and forth

The gentle sway

Was lulling me to sleep.

The train pulled up at a station

Jolted back to reality when wheels made a loud squeak.

As we took off again on our journey to the north,

The door opened, and a man walked in.

“Do you mind if I sit on the other side?

That was all he had to say.

There was no one else, just him and me.

“Be my guest,” was my reply.

“Well, thank you, Sir,” as he put his bag above the window seat.

“How far are you going?” I asked him to be sociable and polite.

“Well, young man,” he said to me,

“I’m going all the way.”

“When I was young, I rode these trains,

With my mother and my pa.

We’d go up north to see our folks,

We didn’t have a car.”

As darkness fell,

The trees grew in shapes,

All mystical and strange.

The man just kept on talking

Like he had some things he just had to say.

He talked about the love he had for animals of all kinds,

The contempt he had for those in charge,

The anger for the poor and simple kind.

At every chance, he asked himself

“What is this all for?”

In the middle of him asking me

“Why can’t we all just get along?”

I drifted off once more, to the train’s rhythmical song.

Woken by a sharp jolt, our journey came to an end.

I looked across at my new friend,

No words he spoke.

His eyes were still.

His skin had gone all grey.

I guess somewhere in the darkness,

He just slipped away.

I wish I had consoled him

For the pain in his words that day,

But I fell asleep, ignored his plea

And in the darkness, he just slipped away.

[A/n: This poem is somewhat of a landmark in my writing. First, it is free verse. I don’t write much free verse. Secondly, it is the longest poem I have ever written. Hope you like it!]

Till next time,

Calvin

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Edited by Wandering Mind