Down Line Time
In bed awake
Bitterroot Rocky Mountain
mid Idaho panhandle
1950
dark without within
unfit for tribe
trapped by family
imprisoned in flesh
the train wail rising up valley
muted mountain madness
promised elsewhere unnear
not now not here
not knowing when I grew up
and tried to get out
they’d demand a ticket.
Six decade down the line been done and seen
two-third cross country
three continents
ten countries
uncountable
and the muted train wails from the Flats now rising
like midnight Miles magic
no longer soothe with promise
but pause with premise . . .
and reminisce.
– Smith, 11.24.2014
