193: Waiting for the next train/in the station at somewhere...

Waiting for the next train

in the station at somewhere

I’ve found the only wooden bench

on the platform and made it my home

I look out at

all the cold metal benches,

the grungy concrete

stained by the sustained shuffling

of thousands of tired shoes stepping

Take away all their architecture and

train stations and their platforms all look alike.

On train platforms all over the world

the cans are over flowing with the same trash,

ash trays filled with the same butts,

people share the same shapes, the same suits, same shoes, and

the same dreams

—we are more alike than separate

As time passes people gather

some sitting patiently

reading the newspapers of the world

reading books: self improvement, job improvement,

philosophy, fiction, and spiritual

there are the predictable guitar players

busking for spare change

the bums looking for salvation

in the bottom of trash cans

slowly accumulating it can by can

there are the people leaning, the people grooming, the people trying hard to do nothing, and there are a whole range of people standing

Some standing performing the

ritualistic mannerisms

passed down generation to generation

All designed to make events happen

before they are scheduled to:

there are the cigarette smokers

the nervous pacers

and there are the percussionists—

          the tapping, beating, snapping, tapping

          of shoes, pens, fingers, and umbrellas

But slowly everything subtly shifts

some invisible trickling

has been gathering in

some collective interior reservoir.

Perhaps one day quantum physics

will be able to show how the pressure

that builds in front of an object as it travels

is distantly related to the growing pressure

of anticipation we feel waiting for that same object

and the pressure builds

          with the anticipation building

and the anticipation builds

          with the pressure building

everything building

          exponentially building

the train is coming, coming, coming

then suddenly

          There It Is!

It slows, stops, and then in the moment of

greatest beauty

           the doors open

and suddenly the beauty spreads out everywhere

and everything is transformed by the diffusion of the beauty

suddenly the concrete is stunning

           the dirt and grime are dazzling

                     the trash is sublime

                               the suits and ties are elegant

                                         and all the ordinary people are now resplendent

and the graffiti is magnificent

          the bums are handsome

                    the food in the vending machine is certified 5 star gourmet

                               the ceiling becomes the Sistine chapel

                                         the air becomes perfume

and everything is breathtakingly, astonishingly

          glorious!

The beauty of the moment the train comes

and the people move

and everything is decision

and everything is possible the

beauty is the possibility that

the train presents, but only individuals can unleash

           as soon as the doors open

           everyone gets to decide

           “Do I want to take THIS step?”

Any one of the business men/women

can decide to step out of their

routine and

          not go home

          not go to the office

          not go anywhere

          or TO go

                    everywhere

the student, the unwed mother, the janitor, mechanic, engineer, secretary--

E V E R Y O N E!

every one gets to decide when that train

stops and that door opens

every one gets to decide if that train

with its stops and its possibilities

          is for them

When the train comes and the doors open

the whole journey of life is tossed up in space

and stays weightless for a fraction of a second then

the platform and the station is all flux

the time and place and space is where

Anywhere becomes possible.

No matter how entrenched in our lives we are

in an instant

           an instant!

we can change our minds, buy

a ticket, and change

everything we know with

a single step

from the platform to the train

(that step is everywhere

           anywhere

it can be any/every step we take)

Sitting on the platform

in the station at somewhere

I close my eyes,

concentrate my hearing,

and smile.

I slowly stand

I stand up ready

to take my first step toward the gates of heaven

the distant rumble comes

and I smile

I take a step

          Every moment is possibility

          but don’t confuse motion with progress

I take a step and

the wind touches my cheek to tell me that

          the next train is coming

see you soon...

©2010 by Jonathan Neske

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