On Your Leaving
by Edward Alley
The
sun-filled clouds glow red, shadowing power lines. Barren trees denote the
season. One tree, disfigured with carvings and disease, its life threatened,
persists. A train roars through my head. A light slants through darkness, as
your life flits past our observation car. Time and times clatter with the
rhythm of ties binding steel and earth. A conductor whistles, punches tickets,
helps passengers find their way. A church with hesitant spire trembles in the
wind. A burned out semi dominates an auto graveyard, its bass horn mute. As the
sun sets, the train shudders to a stop, brakes sigh, the end of the line.
snow
falls
covers
tracks
From Edward Alley: “'On Your
Leaving' was written in tribute to my best friend of 20 years, who died in
August 2014. I wrote the poem on a train trip to Tucson, Arizona, as I observed
what flashed by in the window. I am a retired United Methodist minister who
spent the past 35 years of my work life counseling people in distress. I
believe the listening writing skills I learned there apply to the craft of
poetry.”