Railroad Poem by Adora Williams

There are two trains: one goes on
The other goes
Down
To keep up with a life

I try to only look straight ahead into the line
Not rising above, not wavering to the sides
Trying to maintain the stability by sustaining
The architecture
Of the rail
Or the other way around — a life to be

The outside lures me
It entices my humanity to undo the road
To park the ride
To build a life next to a fruitful river
Plant a garden
Plant an apple tree, not to eat from it
Just to observe
How the ants will behave
Plant a garden, watch it go good
Goes evil
The line is broken

I care for a garden
Until it goes brown, until the last flower has withered
Until the last fruit has rotten
Until the ants had eaten the last apple from a plagued tree
And the river is dry, there's no more sky
To reflect

What made me choose to stop
What made me choose to go
What made life alluring to my ride
What made everything die in the end?

So then, I eye ahead
The road is back
The train arrives at 8
In the dark and the dark becomes day

Never above, just ahead
Never around, just ahead

And life is made