The Train To Town Poem by Deanna Samuels

Not wanting to join 401 crawling traffic,
opted to take the GO Train to Union Station.
Easier, as our destination is only to one location,
so should work out ok, especially with the added bonus,
a beautifully warm sunny day.

Parked car at Oshawa GO station.
Pleasant attendant helped top-up rail cards.
Proceeded to the waiting train,
tapping card at platform machine.
An abundance of seats to choose from,
surprising, as could have been busier
with an afternoon ball game scheduled at Rogers Center.
Train departs sharply on time,
stopping en-route at scheduled stations.
The scene from window, as train glides by,
is of gorse and unattended side verges,
the inevitable older row houses,
dilapidating factories and offices, messy yards.
A slow-moving clanking freight train on parallel line.

Suddenly, those bricks and mortar buildings ebbed away,
the view opens to a Lake Ontario gleaming and sparkling.
Wavelets gently embrace the shale shore
with a dozen or more stone walled inlets
stretching for a hundred yards or more.
People walking alongside on the asphalt path
edged by cultivated flower beds and grassy lawns.
A few glorious moments to watch this tranquil scene
as the ever-moving train quietly glides on.
Gradually, man-made structures start to appear,
small power stations, construction yards, street housing.
Train stops at more designated local stations
to pick up passengers going to town.
Sky-scrapers now appear, domestic and commercial
giving feeling that our transport was of toy-town proportions.
A full hour had now passed from start of our train journey
and GO Train pulls into Union Station, Front Street
the heart of downtown Toronto.

Next, to the taxi rank to take short ride to final destination,
The Princess of Wales Theatre on King Street
to join the many other eager excited theatre goers
to enjoy the Murvish stage production ‘Room'.

Written on train journey from Oshawa to Toronto - 8th May 2022