FREIGHT CAR
Photo by Gantumur Delgerdalai on Unsplash.
Freight Car
Leave the locomotion to the engine
and sigh wide chatter the rhythm.
Fade your red, shake the rickety ladder,
spidery letters of “Southern Pacific” a peeling tatter.
The potatoes, the okra, the ore. Such a corrugated rattle,
endless chore. But the sway,
the sashay down the track. The way cargo delivers
other cargo— comfort, food, heat.
The way Mother Teresa carried more
than bandages and bread.
Do you know what pulls you down the track?
Count the movement,
not the matter. You know how to cart and clatter—
until the destination.
How then the doors slide
open, the brisk unloading,
and all that remains is light.
