THE STATION

A train has rolled in. Car after car stands here,

but no doors are opening, no one’s getting off or on.

Are there any doors at all? Inside, it’s teeming

with closed-in people milling back and forth.

They’re staring out through the unyielding windows.

And outside, a man walks along the train with a maul.

He’s hitting the wheels, a faint ringing. Except right here!

Here the sound swells unbelievably: a lightningstroke,

a cathedral bell tolling, a round-the-world sound

that lifts the whole train and the region’s wet stones.

Everything’s singing! You’ll remember this. Travel on!