Song for the Fathers Who Have Gone

  

Song For The Fathers Who Have Gone

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I remember holding hands with you

Walking to the grocery store

I remember standing on your shoes

On the dance floor

In my little girl mind you were the king of the world

I was glad to be my daddy's girl

I remember waking before light

Driving to the Hollywood bowl

Easter Sunday, saw the sunrise bright

In my soul

In my little girl mind you could do no wrong

Here's to the Fathers who are gone

Handball games against the garage door

My brothers would usually win

You could yell, sometimes you swore

You loved us in the end

You would play piano

Always the same old song

Haven't heard that sonatina in so long

On my wedding day you never smiled

Losing your baby girl

Years have passed and now the loss is mine

But you left your signature

In my grown up girl mind

You're there at dusk and dawn

Here's to the fathers

Who are gone

So long, farewell

Till we meet again

I'll be missing you

Until then.

 

 

The Music of The Rail

Hanging on, knuckles white, grip slips from engine grease. Hair whips and stings, eyes water from gritty blasts of wind. Hearts pump hard, thoughts fire to stay steady, lay low and conquer the illicit challenge against the iron leviathan, high speed and the lurking law.

This was the intoxicating draw for five young men. This was the sheer fright of their mothers.

After the surge of strength, wit and agility required to hop a multi-ton locomotive, then came the calm, the serene and sublime. Visions of satin rivers, waving grasses and muslin clouds soothed nerves, jagged from the jump. Each silent in their own personal reverie, the bond of mutual experience was thick. Sitting on an uncomfortable corrugated metal floor, they drank in the peace and glory of creation. Every forest was a chapel, every sunbeam, heaven's light, breathing in the nourishment of nature.

Silence was accompanied by the rhythmic underscore of the engine, the white noise that cures a fretful mind.  The vistas and reverberations became their music.

Ride on, Railroad Five. See you around the next bend.