WAITING

WAITING

The child waiting for the train,

Her parents beside her,

Has changed with the changing of trains,

And the ageing of her mother,

And the absence of her father

Now waiting at another station.

What I saw then remains.

But the child is the haze

Of fifteen summers later.

The songs she hears inside her

She stands and sings

Of many things that move her.

The music may be of memory.

Perhaps of possibilities.

There are songs of waiting,

And then of being there,

Especially when a child begins

To sing of anticipation.

The hope is universal:

A child is waiting for the train.