A VIEW FROM THE TRAIN

Our train rolls through a station,

stopping briefly at a downtown crossing.

Girls stand on the corner,

pretending not to notice the boys.

We glide by

red brick buildings,

soot covered windows,

weathered loading ramps,

boarded-up factories.

gray wooden houses,

with empty porches.

We steam through patches of farmland,

cows grazing by a sparkling creek.

A child sits on the bank,

fishing pole in hand,

dangling feet in the water.

Soft rolling hills give way to steeper slopes.

Blue green forests spill down a mountain side.

We cut through narrow passes,

coal seams threading through rock.

A girl gathers pebbles near a coal tepple.

Coal veins narrow, almost disappear.

The hills, now green.

We pass a white columned structure,

lawns, lush, green, sweeping.

Staring at the manicured gardens,

I wonder who lives here.