The train journey

by Jagannath Rao Adukuri

Together we need a respite from howling

In the inner depths of the train’s night,

Clackety clackety, inside, full with feeling

I stir along with the train and thought.

She the train better stop thinking violent

Not puffing like her coal-eater ancestor

While mind walks slowly like the blue bird

That went up and down on the telephone wire.

Train-fans stir cold wind and winter air

Shaking shadows of several recently fed men

Bringing out ugly sounds from sleep’s depths.

Dreams spoil fun through monster bridges

And dark tunnels in mountain’s green wombs.

She writes her history on two parallel lines

In the black parchment all the while erasing it;

I collect exquisite shadows of night’s silence.