Train Trilogy

Love Train
 
I did not have time for her
My life was too busy
I had deadlines and commitments
I couldn’t just stop everything
Yet when I looked at her face
I could feel love bearing down  
Like a steam locomotive
I could not out run it
I could not get out of its way
I had to find a way to drive this train
To bring it into the station
Where she would be waiting
On the platform with open arms
To wrap them around me  
And there I would feel her gentle kiss
 
 
Diagnosis
 
Walking out of the doctor’s office
I had never felt so helpless
I had suspected something was wrong  
For quite some time
But now, he had said it
He had spoken the word out loud, “Cancer”
No one lives forever or even really wants to
But now my clock was ticking
Death had become real and I could feel it
Bearing down like a steam locomotive
The weight was heavy and unfathomable  
Large and black as the coal that fed it
Moving ahead on tracks that only went one way
There was no turning around
What was I to do?
The answer was simple
The solution would be difficult
I had to derail it
 
 
Shambles
 
They call it tornado alley for a reason
Every year during the mean season
Storms roaring like a steam locomotive
With dark cumulus clouds  
As large as steam engines
They bloom into the sky and
Roll across the Texas flat lands  
Kicking up a fuss
Bringing tornadoes that rumble
Like freight trains  
Wrecking lives and scattering memories
Yet another storm season has passed  
I should be happy I have survived
But it is hard to find joy
When I emerge from the storm shelter
To find my house and belongings  
Intact and untouched
Yet my life is still in shambles