Train Ride

late night departure
after hours at the depot
(is amtrak always late?)
anticipating a summer
in the national park, I'm
excited about what's unknown ~

through night, through day
up and down, back and
forth through the cars
enough travel for temporary
relationships to develop
almost into perhaps ~

snatching sleep when the
blanket isn't sliding off
my shoulders upright in my
ticketed seat ~ awake or dozing
we roll past fertile fields
flat, until the horizon textures

with hills rising out of ranch-land,
a foreshadowing of mountains
just out of sight ~ already
unacknowledged tension dissipates;
and though I've never been here,
my soul is at home