Observations on a Train

Note: I wrote this on my phone whilst on the train; everything I mention here is actually true.

***

The picture of a train through

the mountains and hills often

conjures a dreamy thought.

Images of delight and splendour

ignite the mind with the beauty of

England's idyllic scenery:

the famous, rolling countrysides.

But most on this train journey I hear,

blasting music from a speaker

without headphones or consideration for

a sleeping toddler - who wakes crying.

The faux-drunk conversations of

the NEETs of Gen-Z in the midday heat

in which a sweat-stenched millennial man has

seated himself spread-legged and creepily

next to a

scared

female

teenager.

Hiding behind her hooded jacket,

she's unhappy and anxious at the prospect that he

might open his mouth and speech directed

at her,

might exit it.

But, his haircut signals that he is wearing

wireless headphones made by a company

you haven't heard of.

A relieved sigh escapes someone's mouth -

nobody knows why.

And the windows won't open,

the doors squeak with noise,

the birds can't be heard singing

and an energy drink has managed to calm

my migraine. Sunshine

and it's still dull,

dreary and dystopian.

Yet,

I cannot help but feeling

perhaps

the railway excellency is dying

like a charm in a sea of cramped faces

on a cheap bracelet made of rusty metal.

And we all glow by phone-light.

Life is a paid subscription

where people are so distracted they don't notice

the slow rumble of the next stop,

the fear and the trembling

of when you might have to

move

and

merge.

***

Thanks for reading. Please remember that the 'Day in the Life' poetry challenge by me, ends on the 31st of May!