Sometimes you see them-
phantasms of commuters gone by
echoes of another life…
When I was a kid, they were young in their career.
Maybe a fresh start wife, or a new job in midtown?
Maybe a bitter divorce, and looking for a way to pay alimony and have a retirement plan?
Most trainfolk don’t wear their rings- and that is the closest they ever get to being secret agents.
That conductor can’t possibly recognize that
fat Fordham kid grown into a broken-winged man;
who stole his cap so many years ago…
But one look of that squint:
above the mustache doing the
open-mouthed gum waltz,
and I’m back…
Sun so bright it seemed to burn the air, spring wind swirling through a slowing rumble and a cheer from my peers-
My legs moving me away as fast as they can – from capture, from trouble, from responsibility, from the screaming younger face of this old ghost, wondering why I’m staring at him.
I probably wouldn’t even make it down the stairs today
before some fat-assed MTA cop collared me.
Commuting may suck the life out of you,
but sometimes the haunts of the past provide sustainence
your soul didn’t even know it needed.