Winter 2024

Train Ride Home

I write this poem

In a time of need

For me whose running

Mind I heed.

If this is just another chapter,

Another event

I shall soon look after,

I’ll brave the days with my racing mind

Through which in writing,

Solace I find.

Perhaps it is a wake-up call

To step up, take root

Once and for all.

To trust in my gut,

To stand tall in times of worry,

To slow the torrents of thought —

Those movements of hurry.

To breathe in deep,

To exhale out loud,

To replace my “what if”s

With “why” and “now.”

Life is a current—

I’ll go with the waves.

Life is a current—

I’ll swim my own way.

Those predetermined factors,

When called into question,

Seem more fragile than ever—

More tested by tension.

The people around,

Some are struggling too.

Some cry in the wake

Of things they can’t undo.

But I see them clearly,

Still holding composure.

Not out of strength or certainty

But to be another shoulder.

A shoulder to lean on

A shoulder upon which their loved ones can rest.

A shoulder that passes

Mighty Love’s test.

In them, I find my strength;

In us, they find their cause.

Why am I so lucky?

I stand up once and for all.