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Keeping in Touch:  Ramblings from a Lonely Train  |
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Woods Woman
Farmgirl in Training
12 Posts
Catherine
Winfield
kansas
USA
12 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 24 2013 : 4:22:45 PM
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RAMBLINGS FROM A LONELY TRAIN...
As I ride this lonely train across meadows and big open bodies of water, I watch the long wispy clouds in the azure sky that sets the sun. Rushing by memories embedded in the abandoned shells of once stately mansions. Light shows through the vacant windows. A ghost of the family still lingers waving at my passing train.
Humped bridges span the expanse of the “Mighty Mississippi”; at least that is what the conductor called it over the speaker. Barges march in line carrying goods to untold places and beyond. The huge steel pylons support our segmented travel and it sways as a sea gull glides along pointing out our destination. Out of Illinois and into Iowa.
A line forms for a smoke break that is only a five-minute stop. A community garden and old cowboy style buildings fill the window of this lonely train. Residue on a red brick building from a previous fire boarded up, never to open its doors again. What…a family van crushed beyond repair? Were they able to escape? A homeless man sits beside the tracks inside the door of his tent, watching. Whose little boy was he? Some mother labored through the night to bring him into this world. Now he sits, alone. Mother is long gone, or is she wondering where he has gone? Piles of crushed cars, stories to tell. A spire rises out of the dead trees, a church, a tower bell, perhaps ringing to the parishioners, calling them to worship.
Trains see the back of the towns. The ugly parts, the dirty and untraveled parts. We stop, people gather, a line waits, a woman cries and says her sad goodbyes. A boy with a fedora with a shiny band around it embarks.
The sun sets and sends its pinkish orange glow out to color the surrounding countryside. The setting sun drops behind the black trees and geese settle for the night. Reflections, upside down trees…which of them is real? Now it disappears behind some Iowa hills. Hiding its glow until morning light when it will awaken a sleeping world. Skeleton Sycamores shine out of the woods.
Miles and miles of semi-truck trailers loaded onto train beds. Chinese writing…more cheap, broken toys from China!
The sweetness of a violin fills my ear. Sweet music, heavenly, remembering. It drowns out the festive bunch in the seats behind. A young boy stole my heart. “Please take me with you, Nana”. “I will fit in your suitcase”, he said. Until the very end, he wanted to come with me. He whispered in my ear, “I love you”. My heart is melted and dripping. So far…too far away…Treasures of the heart.
My Kansas love waits at the other end. I anticipate his embrace. They say that “Home is where the heart is”, but home is in three different states where my family resides. Therefore, I end by saying, “Family is where the heart is”.
By Cat Livingston[/font=Andale Mono][/font=Book Antiqua]
It is only with the heart that one sees clearly, what is essential is invisible to the eye. |
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HodgeLodge
True Blue Farmgirl
662 Posts
Tiana
Berkeley Springs
WV
USA
662 Posts |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Mar 25 2013 : 04:58:36 AM
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Being a midwestern girl at heart and by birth, I enjoyed this. I especially like the sentence that "trains see the back of towns." So true now. They used to go right through the heart of places.
Farmgirl #31
www.blueskyjeannie.blogspot.com
Psalm 51: 10-13 |
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Woods Woman
Farmgirl in Training
12 Posts
Catherine
Winfield
kansas
USA
12 Posts |
Posted - Mar 25 2013 : 06:23:20 AM
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I had to attend to my pregnant daughter in Illinois because she needed her mommy. Taking the train was the travel I decided on. Rarely leaving my husband's side, these 39 years, made it a Lonely Train. Thanks for your reply! :)
It is only with the heart that one sees clearly, what is essential is invisible to the eye. |
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Bear5
True Blue Farmgirl
13055 Posts
Louisiana/Texas
USA
13055 Posts |
Posted - Mar 25 2013 : 08:58:37 AM
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Beautiful. I really enjoyed your story. Thanks.
Marly
"It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth- and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up- that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had." Elisabeth Kurler-Ross |
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Sandy Fields
True Blue Farmgirl
165 Posts
Sandy
Portales
NM
165 Posts |
Posted - Apr 02 2013 : 11:32:05 AM
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I loved all the scenes you painted. Thank you for sharing!
Love writing about "My Field Days"
www.field-days.com
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Cindy Lou
True Blue Farmgirl
2325 Posts
Susan
Lonsdale
MN
USA
2325 Posts |
Posted - Apr 02 2013 : 1:39:46 PM
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You paint such fantastic pictures with your words. I hope the writing made the miles go by quickly, that you daughter is doing well, your grandson is enjoying memories of your time together and that you and your husband are settled back in at home.
Share more writing with us when you get the chance.
Susan
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
Mary Oliver |
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Joey
True Blue Farmgirl
1868 Posts
Joey
Gulf Coast
FL
USA
1868 Posts |
Posted - Apr 04 2013 : 3:54:44 PM
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Oh, what wonderful words.. I felt like I was right there on the train. Thank you.
I love travelling by train. I love seeing the "back-sides" of the towns and the click-clack of the tracks.
It is so hard when your love ones are too far away for a quick drive over. My closest grandboy is 100 miles away and the grandgirls that stole my heart long ago are over 600 miles away. I miss them every day.
Thank you so for sharing not only the words but the feeling too. Joey
Well behaved women rarely make history. |
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Keeping in Touch: Ramblings from a Lonely Train |
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Ramblings from a Lonely Train
