urquhart train
The train
‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡to south dakota
and grandmother sits
on red plush seats
‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡beside
her eldest son
at home he spends his hours
with his face against
the slippery necks of horses
at home
‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡and here
he cannot speak
he cannot speak the landscape
passing by the windows
or nights when view
becomes reflection
and other faces in the glass
mingle
with his own
he cannot say
‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡the moon is in the water of
‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡the ditch beside the tracks
so all through the journey
grandmother listens
to the abandon of the whistle
and listens day and night
to the wheels
beneath the train
‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡which say
someone there will fix him
someone there will fix him
Source: Urquhart, Jane. False Shuffles. Victoria: Press Porcépic, 1982. Section entitled The Undertaker’s Bride.
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