I Love This Poem

trains of winnipeg

i am a train of winnipeg
i’ve had no home till now
i hurtled north and east and west
and flung my song to crowds

i am a train of winnipeg
for years they couldn’t hear
the longing song i sung for them
their hands spoke of their fear

i am a train of winnipeg
my roaring engine, steel and wheel
the fire-the crash-the size, my hands,
the way the driver feels

i am a train of winnipeg
i’m coupling ice and field,
and mountains, lakes and coastal rains
i asked for you and kneeled

i am a train of winnipeg
your branches, switches, spurs
steer me to the sky and back
i’m driving north, i’m yours

i am a train of winnipeg
we lie on gravel beds
i cross and cross your river arms
your legs, your dreams, your head

i am a train of winnipeg
the sun plays on my yard
on your wide streets and dirty stores,
churches, parks and bars

i am a train of winnipeg
i love to taste your food
your parents brought you from afar
you’re salty, sweet and crude

i am a train of winnipeg
i will never leave
i’m parking in your station house
groan, and gasp, and heave

i am a train of winnipeg
i’m wintering in you
i’m embers in your winter glove
(each day your skin is new)

i am a train of winnipeg
you’re geese on steel-white sky
your V follows me overhead
charcoaled on my mind’s eye

i am a train of winnipeg
i’ve had no home till you
your dress, the wind, your tangled hair
my rail on track is true.

Clive Holden