Observing

By Rhiannonw

Sat, 05 Dec 2020
  • 1401 reads
10 comments
 

Look through any window of the train,
passing through the rain to sun again,
passing sweeping landscapes,
passing dreary townscapes,
passing people struggling on their way,
needing friendship’s empathy today,
passing happy children on a swing,
passing cowslip banks in spring,
or dismal squelch in winter, though below
the seeds lie dormant safe from frost and snow,
passing garden, washing blowing,
passing schools, and roads where crowds are going
somewhere rushing on their harassed way,
many seem lost in the dashing fray,
passing discos, pubs with lively band
laughter, buoying briefly, when there’s cash to spend,
passing churches – are they bringing
truth and love for lasting cheering?
sun and showers; thunder, flowers:
window on the world – the various
facets of the daily lives precarious
passing as the window moves along:
glimpse of lives, then all their faces gone.

[IP: Look Through any window]

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Miscellaneous
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by Di_Hard on

This is BRILLIANT! I love your walking and Nature poems, but this is amazing, too. Powerful, unforgettable poem

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Oh, thanks, Di. It was thought-provoking thinking about it and working it out! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by hilary west on

This poem is very good, Rhiannon, it somehow captures the movement of the train passing by and reminds me of that poem by W.H. Auden, The Mail Train sending letters all over the country. You put your special stamp on this one, Rhiannon, and it was a diamond!

Hilary     cool  yes

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thank you very much, Hilary. Appreciation much appreciated! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Tom Brown on

Made me think of the special theory of relativity. Somehow.

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

!! surprise I suppose it's the sense of seeing a 'glimpse around time', as if seeing things happening in many places at the same instant of time??!! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Tom Brown on

Must be Rhiannon will look it up in my “Relativity for Dummies” handbook! Sorry! Joke is on me!

The thing is that in the introductory examples in special relativity the explanations somehow always seem to involve trains and tracks and relative (constant speeds) and observers and flashlights and clocks. And events and involving time dilation and length contraction.

So if I may I also resort to imagination! Tom Brown

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

!!! Not my field at all. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by forest_for_ever on

I love this poem.  Especially as an ex train driver....I was reminded of a passage from George Orwell's 'Road To Wigan Pier' where he observes a young housewife struggling with a piece of wire and an obviously blocked drain.  She pauses to look up longingly as Orwell's train goes past......

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Oh, thank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed it. So many journeys, must have been so interesting. And that incident is really a fascinating idea of a glimpse seen in passing! I hope you are well. Rhiannon