Locomotive in Perpetuum

Locomotive in Perpetuum

A point of strange and brutal clarity
Accrues to us when loved ones turn toward death;
For these few ticks of time we pause bereft,
Caught helpless, fixed and pinned by agony;
On platforms hot with plank and tar we stand
In blazing light beside the shining track
And stare in glass as those we love refract;
Their faces stare at us. They reprimand
By dulling eyes our feeble hopes and prayers.
We tap against the glass, we whisper screams;
To banish track and glass, this flaming air,
We tell ourselves-- This is not real but dream.
        Please help, help them, dear God, dear God, we pray--
        And then the train shakes loose and slips away.