Midnight Train Poem by Barry Middleton

I did not hear what was always there
the midnight train from Memphis
I did not feel the earth tremble in fear
that's the way it is
when you live so near the tracks

the train ran right through town
it pealed in the night and at dawn
it rattled every coffee cup and spoon
and yet it was invisible
no one felt or heard it

the train rolled south to New Orleans
but only in the day was seen
only in the day was heard the whistle
crossing Highway Forty Nine
rumbling toward the next delta town

I never heard it tiptoe cross the river
cross the trestle where I had jumped
to prove myself a man
and when it took me north toward home*
its rhythm rocked me into dreams