Closely Observed Train

A glacial breeze drifted off the headland of near death, And she breathed a breath almost as though her last, The rat tailed airwaves scrammed her moistened cheek For she pin-wheeled and spun when the train thundered past. That train, she closely observed, reeking of livestock filth, And reams of dead-letters held in convict-sewn sacks, Whistled and swerved on grinding silver rails, rattling steel, As the smoking carriage windows hammered black as chimney stacks. In the stink of diesel and the acrid reek of engine oil Hovered vulture-like the lovers in her memories of before, Floating on the slithered thermals as the heat bestowed them life, To screech and goad with stabbing beak, rend and tear with jagged claw. At the drizzling backdrop station, upon the platform slicked with ice, Turning from the dizzy edge and sitting back upon the bench, She sobbed into the solitude of earthquakes shifting by, Gulping roasting flesh into her throat and heaving at the stench. Then bemoaning all the chances that her craven will had missed, To throw herself before it as a warrior on a sword, The next one shuddered to a halt, in blasts of smoke and squealing, Then the mocking speak your weight machine said coldly: “All aboard!”