Twisty ride on the rails of life & love

The below poetic letter was inspired by a comment on one of my poems made by a fellow vocal media poet.. Dharrsheena. Said poem was titled ‘What Is Love’

https://vocal.media/poets/what-is-love-so18b02pb#comment-91ae7da6-ffc5-462c-a744-efcfbc4ffc85

😎🎶🫀🫀🎶🫀😎🫀🎶😉😎🫀🎶🎶🫀🦗🐍👍🦅🫀🐍👍😎👍😉

Ah My Wary Friend:

The vagaries of the human condition know no boundary. Lines are meant to be crossed my friend. Despite, perhaps because of, those vagaries that cause us to sway in our journey. First one way then the other, like a sapling in a gale. Buffeted by emotion as we breathlessly hurdle the obstacles of life. Running Pell mell from twist to turn … to a rest bench in a shaded nook. Love can be like that. Just remember to catch your breath. Sip some water. Breathe deep. Stretch out the kinks. Gird thine loins for the contest… Then pick up your faith, strap on your running shoes, and rejoin the race as you circle this track to …. Wherever it may go.

Thus are the boundless possibilities of life: love, commitment, contentment for some. Pain, hunger, exhaustion, and struggle for others. Most experience a myriad mixture of both as they wander, lost but seeking, from one protected oasis to another beneath the roiling thunderclouds. Seeking that calm clearing in the woods by a babbling brook where they may relax, splash some water on their face. Take a bath. Swim. Start a fire from the burning embers of their overheated psyche and partake of natures thoughtfully provided provender. A temporary sanctuary where they may lay snuggled peacefully under the stars watching the chaotic whirl of the unknowable stars above. Ah, the journey to reach your own calm clearing is worth every stitch in your side, every gasping breath.

My clearing I already occupy .. With her.

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Love is a marathon as some say, not a single lap. When your shoes are tattered, your feet aching, throbbing with stress… When you are gasping with exhaustion from the grueling pace set in the tandem race to love… when the baton has been dropped, ground into the dust of the track… Catch a ride. Hop a train like a hobo and ride into a sunset valley in the middle of wherever. Or…, knowing a journey is better shared with someone else there to help you; pick you up when you stumble and enjoy the scenery as you hold hands and smell the flowers along the way. Find your traveling companion somewhere, search the highways, byways, hills, valleys, towns, and cities until you find that singular one. Then, purchase two tickets on the train of commitment.

Those tickets may be coach, where you may need to shift, toss, and twist in your seats until you find that angle that works. That position particular to you where the two of you recline entwined, nestled together in some odd way that works for you. That allows you both to relax in relative comfort. Don’t neglect to switch occasionally whose head is in whose lap. Whose furrowed brow is being stroked, soothed; massaging away the days worries with gently caring fingers.

Perhaps you may be one of those lucky souls in first class Pullman Car with satin sheets, plush pillows, and a fragrant bouquet of roses… Where champagne, caviar, and chocolates are brought by the conductor. [Tipping is alllowed, 😉]

Whether in the caboose wondering where this locomotive is bound; or in the engine compartment driving, stoking the fires whilst guiding your private bullet train on a planned path: Try to enjoy the ride. Seek those spots of comfort where you can enjoy the scenery. Gaze out the window. Gaze into your chosen companions eyes.

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Thus are the boundless possibilities of life, love, commitment. A train ride ticketed to unknowable destinations. Some prefer not to enjoy the ride due to the inevitability of its end. Fearful of the knowledge that one day the train could derail. Perhaps your fellow traveler may go to the refreshment car only to disembark; Disappearing with nary a word. Your only warning a rear view of him/her as he/she walks away from the station platform… A view seen from a window to your soul as it glides forward, powerless to get off. Too late to disembark and join him/her. Knowing that the next station where you could jump the rails is miles off at an unknowable town called Perdition.

We, of course, hope to find that eternal traveling companion that will ride life’s rails to the end with us, side by side. That person who knows when to sit quietly and when to crank up the music and raise havoc on the dance floor. Ah, what a delightfully eclectic journey it is.

I, personally, have purchased my ticket for the long haul. All the way to the end of the line. Occasionally I have to stoke the engine - sweating from heat exhaustion as I throw coals into the furnace. Sometimes sitting back on a plush seat sipping coffee or possibly champagne with my love. Sometimes mopping a feverish brow as one of us nurses the other through an illness… Sometimes merely sitting and staring out the window at the bountiful beauty of nature as we roll along. Regardless if this train ride may switch tracks at any moment… or crash into an unknowable concrete barrier and be derailed in a horrific accident… Still, I’m happy to travel the rails from station to station with my own perfect companion.

So, my wary friend. It is my hope you find your own traveling companion with whom to share the ride to the final station. Either way, if you need a helping hand over a stumbling block… Reach out. Ask. Find a helpmate. We are all on this train…, regardless of which track we travel.

My eternal traveling companion is Emily. Who is yours? By the way, have a seat.

Sincerely;

A tandem ticketed friend.