The No Shame Poetry Series Presents "Train Song"

Train Song

I’m sorry, but this is not
Your “father’s magic carpet made of steel.”
The modern coaches bump and sway
And rattle over renewed railwork
Pulled by diesel electrics of
Brutal power

But in this insular world
That sometimes glides
Sometimes lurches
I think of
Track laid by hand for thousands of miles
Tunnels dug by pick and blasted by black powder
Work done by dispossessed Irish and Chinese

The long train shakes and rattles
And yet
It works, as imperfect and as glorious
As we.

–Dan Verner