Brief Encounters

I have made longer journeys

Though in truth few have been stranger

Than from the heartlands of Remainia 

To the flatlands of Romania

From the splendid isolation 

Of Danby’s unmanned railway station 

To follow family business 

With a long overdue vacation

Dawn joins me on the platform 

Hard of hearing and ninety if a day

So I take her case and tell her son

That I am more than happy to help her on her way

Jerusalem was builded her

In this once green and pleasant land

But today it is perdition

As time weighs heavy on my hands

An incident near York the cause 

A soul departed before time 

By inexplicably but literally

Laying her body on the line

Now limping on my final leg I laugh

At still one brief encounter more

Elena tells me she sells shoes 

And that she is headed for the sea shore