I caught a train from here to there
had no ticket and paid no fare,
and from the windows I did see
yesterday trees of memory.
I heard my friends cry “Please don’t go,
don’t board that train we love you so”
I knew tomorrow was not mine
the train was from my destined line.
“You’re going back, you’re going back”
sung the rhythmic wheels on the track,
further along I saw a child
dancing in fields of poppies wild;
she waved to me as though she knew
I’d been before just passing through,
I raised my hand and gave a smile
then she was gone behind the mile.
Light dimmed and I saw my mother
with a babe my little brother,
oh how long since I’d seen his face;
the wheels slowed in this darker place.
The train I caught from here to there
had no ticket nor needed fare,
said the creaking wheels on the track
“You’re going back, you’re going back”
At the station I don’t know where
was the child in me waiting there
she knew it was our time to die,
we were back home my soul and I.
© Stella Armour 2014
