The trees attend
in tense rows,
like cowed prisoners
put in place
on either side
of an empty cell block,
grayed by
weather and the smirk of time.
No souls
keep watch now,
oversight more
cruel than punishment.
They stand
erect—
begging permission
to slouch
but given no
reprieve—
strong
despite oppression.
What crime
imposed the void
insinuated between
them?
Brothers and
sisters across the way--
are those
sons and daughters over the gap?
Their sap
tears wept
beside spent
greed’s curse.
Two parallel
rails,
now gone,
have left
their mark—
the train
destined for nowhere,
now a homeless
ghost,
still
haunting.
Commerce
consumed these spirits,
her promise
of progress now defunct.
Man’s pitted
patch of tar
cannot hide
God’s path,
bulging underneath
industry.
Grass—
even the
melting snow—
has more permanence
than
profit.
Abandoned Railroad
a poem by Troy Cady
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