Our Song

Our Song or Song of the Train

Our song always begins with bells --
stacatto, alternating tones
brimming with anticipation.

Then comes a crescendo
of rolling percussion
growing to engulf us.
We take each others hands
just before a burst of notes

out of tune
squaking clarinet reeds, bent flutes.
The music pauses dramatically.
The conductor is poised on his platform.
We look at each other.

Our first kiss.

The first tenor sings out into the night --
the single lyric to our song --
"All Aboard!" he trebles.
You climb up into the orchestra.

The music fades into the distance
but the percussion continues in my chest.


This is a poem I wrote for my ex, while I was dating him. I was never satisfied with it so I never gave it to him, and now I know why. It's bittersweet, and I wanted to write him something happy. So now that it's over with him, I feel like the bittersweet tone is right, and I think it is finished after all. Perhaps it was prophetic that my poem would only come out bittersweet.