Talking Train Time

Listen Bob — though what you are is timeless,
this opportunity here is brief. Don’t waste it
goofing around, persisting in self-deception.

You’ve heard all the sermons, all the sweet songs
mind loves to sing to itself in thrilling festivals
of self-confirmation, but sober up, Bob!

Hear that train whistle in the near distance?
Everything is sending a message to itself.
Hey old Bob, better start paying attention!

If this is a train, you’re on it. Traveler,
it runs on in every direction at once,
yet it’s never left the station.

That’s the part we forget. Mercy
remembers, understands, forgives.
Mercy booked us on this train, she sits
in the opposite seat, maybe slightly smiling.

If we don’t understand, then this ride
never ends. If we do, it still keeps going,
though no traveler ever moves an inch.
It’s a journey nobody embarks on.

Beyond the train window, the Nameless
assumes the myriad dancing forms of itself
in rituals of mindless embodiment, while
behind the glass — an infinite expanse
of brilliant fathomless emptiness!

(Photo from the movie “Strangers On a Train”)