Distant Land

I was in a foreign land
Yet I did not know it
There was a performance
And I was in it

Did I sing?
Yes I think I sang
I had some admiring girls
By my side, I tell you

One of the girls I particularly liked
I wanted her
With all my silly showboating
I was wasting time

She had to go
She had some luggage
And a train to catch
I said I would help her

I showboated more
Time slipped by
Missed chanches
To spend with this
Wonderful creature

Then it was late
Time
I needed to find her
I rushed out

I think
I spied her in the distance
With her case
Then I was lost
A foreign student town

Ah never loose someone
The pain
Why then did I stop to
Buy a pie?

Was I really hungry
Or was it the pain to fill?
The pie was ordered
Three times

As first jovial
Then again
Then still they
Got the order wrong
They seemed menacing now
My guide said pay and leave

Twisting through the roads
Newly built poor streets
I tried to find my way to the station
Two children in the street

In the middle of the road
Giving motorists playful cheer
What hellish place was this?
This was no entertaiment park

I saw a group of women that I knew
I would be tolerated by them
But it was not my group
I would not feel comfortable

I broke free said I had
A train to catch
Rushing into the station
I saw the old train starting to depart
whistles blowing

I ran and opened the door
And crammed myself
Into the packed carriage
Where does this go to?
Sullen faces

A few murmurs
I looked on the overhead map
Dubrovnik sounded familiar
And the other way was not
Soon there was a commotion

Men looking out
Train slowing
Opening windows to get a look
Dirge played two
horrible horrible notes
louder and insistent
As the horror of the scene
Unfolded

A train had, maybe a hour ago
smashed through a wall
A high speed train
I saw no end
It was long so long
No end in sight

Derailed slightly
Carriages horizontal
Then suddenly tipping
down as the relief of
The land changed

The two notes
Horrible
Orchestra
Bassoons
Brass
Timpani
Intensified

I looked stupidly
Half tentatively
For signs of blood
Smashed brains
Or even bodies within the carriages
I saw none

But then, wide-eyed
I was horribly transfixed
On bodies
Those bodies
Seemingly
Puny
Beneath
Light blue
Clinical cloth
Being
Stretchered away

one
by
one

one
by
one