The train on the move
With effort the huge load jerks ahead
emitting some puffs of black smoke.
The crows on a pole flutter for a while
but settle down again- crowing inwardly:
the engine moves in one direction always.
The girl, on her first visit to grandpa,
bends over the window and claps in joy;
the mother, as is her wont, pulls her back.
A pensive wife, forced to maternity leave,
waves timidly to her man, as he looks at
the slow movement of platform clock.
A student is anxious, repeatedly looks
at the papers; the certificates he hopes
are worth their weight to secure him a job.
An old man is wheeled to the compartment,
he has a broken hip- slipped in the bath.
Some say he broke his bone first and then
had the nasty fall. The door of the bogie
gets jammed and the wheelchair gets stuck.
The guard blows his whistle and the porter
is in a fix; the jerk might induce another fall.
The old man manages to jump* inside as
the wheelchair drops on the platform.
The crowd heaves a sigh of relief,
even as another bone cracks in his arm.
--
c s shah
[*wriggle]
I have deliberately used the word "jump" here,
for in the situation of life and death, even
a person with broken hip might "jump" to safety.
|