A Fated Train Ride

• Jarita Lay, Grade 9
• Poetry
• 2012

The silent boy on the train
Sees the Kukuck soaring through the sky
Leaving behind its past and ascending to the future
The children in the meadows remind him of the ocean he once knew
Where the gold sun reflected on sapphire waters
He lives in the moment
Because time tarries on a broken clock
As his stripy attire scratches slyly against his skin

Although each rising sun advances the path of fate
Perhaps each breath he takes signifies a new chance
When the train halts
My destinations become apparent as I enter the world before me
Despite his prospect remaining unfathomable to mere strangers
I observed the train scraping against the tracks
And watch his world move in one direction
While he dreamed of thousands more