The Train - poetry

The Train

They jerk backwards; as yet another unearthly beat is groaned.
White, knuckled hands twist around an oily pole.
The jagged strokes of wandering fingers are imprinted on a foggy window.
Drops of water melt from the strokes and crawl into cracks blackened with the ash of dead insects.
Across the dirty aisle sits a woman,
Her face hidden beneath the folds of her black wool scarf.
Legs crossed, lips pursed, eyes scanning the book in her lap.
The rattle of metal fills out the silence in the moving room.
A wrinkled lady in beige stockings sits with her handbag by her feet.
A damp cigarette perches upon her lips and trembles slightly, as her perfumed hands rhythmically wring out the cold.
Blue, aged eyes serenely gaze out through puffs of smoke, at the blur of passing trees, broken windows and abandoned apartments.
Another screech peels out from the hot metal, roasting beneath the ground.
The strangers tilt to the left, while their bodies stiffen in attempt to fight the pull.
Departing footsteps move towards the doors.
The old lady leans back, breathes a cloud of smoke through her rouged lips and heaves a sigh.
Strangers arrive, shaking off the rain.
The woman stiffens and shifts as a girl with wet black hair sinks into the chair beside her.
Her torn jeans just inches away from the ironed trousers of the woman's.
The woman fixes her eyes on a word on her page. Distracted and attempting not to notice the blurred reflection of the girl in the foggy window.
Impatiently, she swallows, clenches her jaw and waits for the doors to slide shut.
The girl stuffs a painted hand into her jacket and pulls out white headphones.
She closes her eyes, creaks within her plastic chair and exhales as the muffled sound of music drifts over the passengers.
A man curls and tightens his grip around the cold, greasy pole as the drumming of metal on metal slowly starts up again.
A raindrop sits upon his hand.
A silent reminder of the world beyond the wet, melting windows. A stranger.
Like a liquid pearl, it slips and falls as the train sets off again.