Strangers

We normally stand
apart
spread our bodies out
down the platform

Keeping our private thoughts protected
locked away
with the liver, spleen and lungs

But today
the rain has brought us together
tucked up tight
beneath the one available roof

It’s horrible

Who are these people
with the damp hands
and moody coats

We scan each other
horrified
each one of us abandoned
in indiscretion

There is no warmth here
just lumps of flesh
watching clocks
and
tapping the tiny techno box

I sense a young boy in the corner of my eye
the one who annoyed me last week
- every week in fact
his little cretin face laughing
mocking
the disabled woman and her timid twitch

I see the Bolivian kid
he reads books in English too

we acknowledge this mutual interest
by carefully ignoring
one another’s glances
- a ballet of the eyes

human minds sigh in unison
the tension grows
we’re wishing
all of us
wishing

come now train
take us home
come quickly
before one of us does something irrational
breaks down
or recklessly
initiates
a conversation