The Orient Express
One looks from the train
Almost as one looked as a child. In the sunlight
What I see still seems to me plain,
I am safe; but at evening
As the lands darken, a questioning
Precariousness comes over everything.
Once after a day of rain
I lay longing to be cold; after a while
I was cold again, and hunched shivering
Under the quilt's many colors, gray
With the dull ending of the winter day,
Outside me there were a few shapes
Of chairs and tables, things from a primer;
Outside the window
There were the chairs and tables of the world ...
I saw that the world
That had seemed to me the plain
Gray mask of all that was strange
Behind it -- of all that was -- was all.
But it is beyond belief.
One thinks, "Behind everything
An unforced joy, an unwilling
Sadness (a willing sadness, a forced joy)
Moves changelessly"; one looks from the train
And there is something, the same thing
Behind everything: all these little villages,
A passing woman, a field of grain,
The man who says good-bye to his wife --
A path through a wood all full of lives, and the train
Passing, after all unchangeable
And not now ever to stop, like a heart --
It is like any other work of art,
It is and never can be changed.
Behind everything there is always
The unknown unwanted life.
poem by Randall Jarrell
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Related quotes
Walking Tables
How do tables walk as one?
And why do chairs seem to run?
How my rest is desired, and how
Do I kick in the air for relaxation?
My chimney is found with the soot
Of a black utterance, as seemly as light;
The light travels up and down the world,
With smoke, crime is committed, like walking
Chairs and turning tables, this world is one.
With this house may I live alone,
Where wolves like criminals detest you.
Anyone walked a long distance, anyway,
Justice must be allowed, and searched
By the home and heaven.
How do tables and chairs move?
poem by Naveed Akram
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Wave Your Flag & Stop The Train
Wave your flag and stop the train
Stop the train
Stop the train
Wave your flag and stop the train
Stop the train
Stop the train
Someone just pull the little chain
Girl in my compartment lost her mind
Stop the train
Stop the train
Tried to throw herself upon the line
I cant see you leaving her behind
She doesnt quite remember who I am
Stop the train stop the train
Committing suicide was more her plan
When she was attached to another man
Wave your flag and stop the train
Stop the train
Stop the train
Someone just pull the little chain
Tried to tell the signal man in time
She still trying to jump out on the line
I cant see you leaving her behind
I cant figure out whats with her mind
I cant figure that shes out of time (? )
I see her reflection on the line
Stop the train
Stop the train
Gates and railroad stations passing me by
I cant see you leaving her behind
Wave your flag and stop the train
Stop the train
Stop the train
Wave your flag and stop the train
Stop the train
Stop the train
Someone just pull the little chain
Please wave your flag and stop the train
Youve gotta wave your flag and stop the train
song performed by by Electric Light Orchestra
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Fast Train
Written by: myles goodwyn
I read the colors this mornin
I read the colors today
About a man who left from nowhere to be someone
And every day he has to pay in every way
I met a man from new york city
He spoke of things Ive yet to find
A good man driven from his homeland
Tryin to find some piece of mind
Its a fast train
Its a fast train
Its a fast train
Its a fast train
Its a fast train
Its a fast train
Its a fast train
Its a fast train
Its a fast train
Its a fast train
Its a fast train
Its a fast train
Its a fast train
song performed by by Kate Bush
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Train To Heaven
(4/10/12)
It was a long wait - but soon they would
Be at that gate.
The train that would take him to heaven
To join all his family and friends
Where a new life would begin and never end.
A life where there is nothing but beauty and peace
And the heart would find relief.
The conductor showing you everything in your past life
Some bad - a lot nice.
Of people you touched along the way
And of things they had to say.
everybody when they pass away
Boards this train on a given day.
This train makes three stops
As strange as it may seem
Heaven, hell, and purgatory
"Sounds like a familiar story"!
Purgatory being the place of things
In your past life - you must face.
But you are on the "7th ave. express."
Cause you passed all the tests.
You had a heart which was pure as gold
And all the angels have been told.
All these other passengers that are on this train with you
Have gone through the same things too.
All of you had came to this "times square station"
Because you had found your salvation.
They gathered together like fallen needles from a pine tree
Multitudes of souls that were finally free.
At the gate you will be greeted by SAINT PETER
Who will show you the way to all your family and friends
And this joy will never end.
poem by Louis Rams
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Train Of Gold
I saw her there from across the street, she was dressed in black
And when she moved she moved to a beat, like a cadillac
She rode a train, train train train, a train of gold
She was a woman of suspicious ways, never saw daylight
And in her room she sat and passed the days
And shed creep out at night
She rode a train, train train train, a train of gold
Chorus: train of gold, train of gold
It took me so long to find out I was wrong
Now I wait for her in the night
Looked through a window saw a velvet sky, a shade of green
A violin was playing soft and sweet, like it was a dream
She rode a train, train train train, a train of gold
Train of gold, train of gold
It took me so long to find out I was wrong
Now I wait for her in the night
Train of gold, train of gold
I dont believe her, it just couldnt be her
I cant get it out of my mind
song performed by by Electric Light Orchestra
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The shut-eye train
Come, my little one, with me!
There are wondrous sights to see
As the evening shadows fall;
In your pretty cap and gown,
Don't detain
The Shut-Eye train -
"Ting-a-ling!" the bell it goeth,
"Toot-toot!" the whistle bloweth,
And we hear the warning call:
"All aboard for Shut-Eye Town!"
Over hill and over plain
Soon will speed the Shut-Eye train!
Through the blue where bloom the stars
And the Mother Moon looks down
We'll away
To land of Fay -
Oh, the sights that we shall see there!
Come, my little one, with me there -
'T is a goodly train of cars -
All aboard for Shut-Eye Town!
Swifter than a wild bird's flight,
Through the realms of fleecy light
We shall speed and speed away!
Let the Night in envy frown -
What care we
How wroth she be!
To the Balow-land above us,
To the Balow-folk who love us,
Let us hasten while we may -
All aboard for Shut-Eye Town!
Shut-Eye Town is passing fair -
Golden dreams await us there;
We shall dream those dreams, my dear,
Till the Mother Moon goes down -
See unfold
Delights untold!
And in those mysterious places
We shall see beloved faces
And beloved voices hear
In the grace of Shut-Eye Town.
Heavy are your eyes, my sweet,
Weary are your little feet -
Nestle closer up to me
In your pretty cap and gown;
Don't detain
The Shut-Eye train!
"Ting-a-ling!" the bell it goeth,
"Toot-toot!" the whistle bloweth
Oh, the sights that we shall see!
All aboard for Shut-Eye Town!
poem by Eugene Field
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Moment
Express trains are respectful brothers
For they have an ihtuitional heart each
Delayed one train means much the next bothers
And it's our train next delayed long we waited such
Evening platform limned dim and dull
Weakened infrastructure waiting for a seat
Sparse benches filled with baggages full
Buzzing mosquitoes spraying around to bite
Uneasy to feel lost in a railed hell
Chairs, benches inadequate even to rest
Impatient me escorting things all
Evening walk escaped hubby alone me left
Who and who not the cheaters
All immoral thieves..watchful to watch
Dub, dub, dub, dub pattered my heart fears
'Where's hubby' panicked the train in a touching reach
poem by Indira Renganathan
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New Train
Full blown silence in an empty room
A former bride and a former groom
A folding table and a folding chair
A folded hand of poker there
All new directions must go everywhere
Big round people in a cool little square
You cant cut it with a boat or a plane
Man its gonna take a new train
Youll be leaving on a new train
Far away from this world of pain
And when you look out your window youll see
Your home your baby and your family
No melted ice cube in a paper cup
Hell youll be happy youll be all shook up
The friends that greet you will be
Simple and plain
When you step down from that new train
Collected volumes of history say
Man makes mistakes most everyday
The half a pound of chopped ground round
Is still a burger when it goes downtown
No faded photographs of yesterdays
Are in the books that I read these days
To fly away from that memory town
You must keep both your feet on the ground
Cause youll be leaving on a new train
Far away from this world of pain
And when you look out your window youll see
Your home your baby and your family
No melted ice cube in a paper cup
Hell youll be happy youll be all shook up
The friends that greet you will be
Simple and plain
When you step down from that new train
Ill be leaving on a new train
Far away from this world of pain
The friends that greet me will be
Simple and plain
When I step down from that new train
New train, new train.
song performed by by John Prine
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Sadness Of Being
There's a sadness to our being,
Lola thinks, now swaying to the
Movement of the train, studying
People nearby, their faces in the
Morning light, their gestures,
Their inner thoughts unknowable,
Carrying their grief, their broken
Dreams, their unfulfilled appetites.
She senses the muscles in her bottom
Tense and untense as the train sways,
Her thighs stiffening to give balance,
Her hands folded on her handbag,
Ladylike, as Mother taught, some
Time ago, among other more important
Things, how to behave, how not to behave,
What to say in public and what not.
The train stops at a station, people
Get off and some get on, different
Faces to study, others lost, possibly
To sight for life, passing ships in a dull
Night, gone now never to be known
By her, never to be dreamed of or missed
Or grieved over some future death.
The train moves on, she sways again,
Her body moving to the motion as others
Do, and watching them, the way they sway,
The dying embers in their eyes, their words
Not said, the thoughts coming and going
Inside each head, sadness or some private
Joy, not shared, least not yet, not with her.
Sit still and be quiet, Mother would say,
Children ought (she always said ought) to
Be observed not heard, and as she sways
Now, thinking of her mother and her mother's
Words and ways, she feels she wants to shout
And jump about, to flout her mother's rules and
Words and sayings and laws, but she just sits and
Stares, silently, thinks rebellion, but never dares.
poem by Terry Collett
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On the train [În tren]
It's racket, the train is ready to go
All sorts of weird strangers now get in the car.
It's seven and ten, my worries do grow,
I turn to the window, I'm feeling bizarre.
Hey, driver, go on, we've got rather bored,
It's time, blows the whistle, a rumor is heard,
I feel that is moving, O, help us, Good Lord!
The dark hasty shadows pass by like a bird.
The voice of the sorrow is silent right now,
I'm wiping my forehead, I'm squeezing my eyes
My soul seems to waver and I'm feeling low,
Hey, driver, go on, before my heart cries!
We're leaving behind, as we pass through the lands,
Tall signals, and switches, and cars, and white steam.
We see people passing, with flags in their hands,
While this shiny train goes fast like a stream.
Goodbye and farewell pretty town and dear friends,
Goodbye, my dear past, so sweet, but still vain!
At curves, when the train is creaking and bends,
I open the window and hail you again!
The town stays behind and shines in the light,
But churches and houses will soon disappear.
In front, a green blanket fills me with delight
And this crazy train is quick like a deer.
The scenery changes – some sights gray and dim,
A plain, on which shadows of clouds now repose,
A road all alone, a small forest, grim,
With dry trees on which one can see nests of crows.
The whole earth is spinning with very much ease
And so is the ground of this flat and large plain,
We're going ahead like a swift summer breeze,
While white railway chalets are watching the train.
poem by George Topîrceanu, translated by Octavian Cocoş
Submitted by anonym
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Heart Of The Flower
Now at the station, the train to another land
Lands of never seen light, light hidden in infinite night
Night in its biggest might, might of the strongest power
And there the smoke of the train to the heart of the flower
I take the first train to the heart of the flower
I take the first train to the heart of the flower
And there the smoke of the train to the heart of the flower
And there the smoke of the train to the heart of the flower
The waiting room of kingdom come, I look back upon my life
Life of loss but now the end
End of rat race overdrive
Overdrive to foreign lands
Lands of contemptous hours
And there the smoke of the train to the heart of the flower
Now on the train
This is the end of my day
I feel my spirits escape like a musical clock thats dying away
I turn once again and wave my hand and say goodbye
I never thought its so easy
I never thought its so easy
I take the first train to the heart of the flower
I take the first train to the heart of the flower
And there the smoke of the train to the heart of the flower
And there the smoke of the train to the heart of the flower
The heart of the flower
The heart of the flower
The heart of the flower
Diamond/1990
song performed by by Alphaville
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Library
Drowsing on the chair at six in the evening,
I sat in the library.
Attendant came to put the lights on.
Some chairs after days work were lucky to be empty,
While some were occupied.
I felt the chair feel uneasy.
Uneasiness passed on to the scholars
They moved here and there.
The chair cried in pain.
No one could hear, but I could feel
White dove the chairs messanger came
It shouted, "Let them rest".
Because what they were pursuing was not wisdom but knowledge
There dull minds were unaware
The dove went, I went too, but the chairs suffered there.
poem by Sanjay Mehta
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The Gift Of The Sea
The dead child lay in the shroud,
And the widow watched beside;
And her mother slept, and the Channel swept
The gale in the teeth of the tide.
But the mother laughed at all.
"I have lost my man in the sea,
And the child is dead. Be still," she said,
"What more can ye do to me?"
The widow watched the dead,
And the candle guttered low,
And she tried to sing the Passing Song
That bids the poor soul go.
And "Mary take you now," she sang,
"That lay against my heart."
And "Mary smooth your crib to-night,"
But she could not say "Depart."
Then came a cry from the sea,
But the sea-rime blinded the glass,
And "Heard ye nothing, mother?" she said,
"'Tis the child that waits to pass."
And the nodding mother sighed.
"'Tis a lambing ewe in the whin,
For why should the christened soul cry out
That never knew of sin?"
"O feet I have held in my hand,
O hands at my heart to catch,
How should they know the road to go,
And how should they lift the latch?"
They laid a sheet to the door,
With the little quilt atop,
That it might not hurt from the cold or the dirt,
But the crying would not stop.
The widow lifted the latch
And strained her eyes to see,
And opened the door on the bitter shore
To let the soul go free.
There was neither glimmer nor ghost,
There was neither spirit nor spark,
And "Heard ye nothing, mother?" she said,
"'Tis crying for me in the dark."
And the nodding mother sighed:
"'Tis sorrow makes ye dull;
Have ye yet to learn the cry of the tern,
Or the wail of the wind-blown gull?"
"The terns are blown inland,
The gray gull follows the plough.
'Twas never a bird, the voice I heard,
O mother, I hear it now!"
"Lie still, dear lamb, lie still;
The child is passed from harm,
'Tis the ache in your breast that broke your rest,
And the feel of an empty arm."
She put her mother aside,
"In Mary's name let be!
For the peace of my soul I must go," she said,
And she went to the calling sea.
In the heel of the wind-bit pier,
Where the twisted weed was piled,
She came to the life she had missed by an hour,
For she came to a little child.
She laid it into her breast,
And back to her mother she came,
But it would not feed and it would not heed,
Though she gave it her own child's name.
And the dead child dripped on her breast,
And her own in the shroud lay stark;
And "God forgive us, mother," she said,
"We let it die in the dark!"
poem by Rudyard Kipling
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trum...trum....Its a Train..! ! !
I love to travel in a train
in a bumping and humping bogie..
A long, beautiful
chugging train
with dad, mom and bro.
I love to travel in a train
that breaks into the platform,
with thundering wheels
and-
a whistle blown
I love to travel in a train
passing through
tunnels-
stretched and curved.
lights off,
howling on,
it is wonderful to be on a train..
I love to travel in a train
and roam all around the world
for ever and ever...
poem by Ananda Gopan
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By all means life is an accident
'I am tired Doctor as I am wakeful.'
'Better wake up as there are so many wonderful things happened around the world.Please do not sleep as you miss the train,
Read obituaries in a leisure time as your unknown friend may die at the edge of the world by hitting his head on a decayed lamp post.'
'Hey! Ms.Sarah Plain, I watched you get down at the same station everyday.'
'Why not; That's my native town near by the Russian border.'
'All right! Then don't sleep as you miss the train, anyhow the new broom sweeps well and this is a train journey my dear.'
poem by Nimal Dunuhinga
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From A Moving Train
Written by gerry beckley, 1998
Found on human nature.
Ive seen the ides of march
And Ive seen the fall of rome
Ive seen all kinds of stuff
But I never see my home
If my life-line is
These million miles of track
One thing I know by now
There is no turning back
From a moving train
From a moving train
From a moving train
From a moving train
If every venture was
A path to no avail
Id still be rolling down
This never ending trail
If we had a destination
In our sights
We would be helpless as
We passed it in the night
From a moving train (hear the engine running)
From a moving train (you can get on board)
From a moving train (hear the motor humming)
From a moving train (see, youve gotta see the light)
And if by chance you find a woman
That you might love along the way
You better hold her tight
Tell her everythings alright
Or she might jump along the way
From a moving train (hear the engine running)
From a moving train (you can get on board)
From a moving train (hear the motor humming)
From a moving train (see, youve gotta see the light)
From a moving train (hear the engine running)
From a moving train (you can get on board)
From a moving train (hear the motor humming)
From a moving train (see, youve gotta see the light)
song performed by by America
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Peace Train
[ cat stevens ]
[ banned from later u.s. copies of in my tribe due to cat stevens agreement to the fatwah issued against salman rushdie ]
Now Ive been happy lately, thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, something good has begun
Oh Ive been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be, some day its going to come
Cos out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again
Now Ive been smiling lately, thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, something good has begun
Oh peace train sounding louder
Glide on the peace train oh ah ee ah oh ah
Come on now peace train
Yes, peace train holy roller
Everyone jump on the peace train oh ah ee ah oh ah
Come on now peace train
Get your bags together, go bring your good friends too
Cos its getting nearer, it soon will be with you
Now come and join the living, its not so far from you
And its getting nearer, soon it will all be true
Oh peace train sounding louder
Glide on the peace train oh ah ee ah oh ah
Come on now peace train, peace train
Now Ive been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating, why cant we live in bliss
Cos out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again
Oh peace train sounding louder
Glide on the peace train oh ah ee ah oh ah
Come on now the peace train
Yes peace train holy roller
Everyone jump on the peace train oh ah ee ah oh ah
Come on, come on, come on
Yes come on peace train
Yes its the peace train
Oh ah ee ah oh ah
Come on now peace train
Oh peace train
song performed by by 10000 Maniacs
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Eastbound Train
It was New Cross Station, I was going on home
Saw you get your ticket, standing on your own
Here come the train about 02:44
I couldn't get a smoker, you took another car
Yeah, the end of the line, we both had to change,
And you're standing right behind me,
I'm a feeling kinda strange
We got to Mile End Road, my heart skipped a beat,
Standing right behind me, I'm a shakin' in my seat
3-4 minutes and the train comes through,
I'm ridin' on the Central, I'm a-lookin' at you.
Woman on the eastbound train,
Sometimes I wanna see you again.
Now I couldn't read a paper, you couldn't read a book,
Kept on taking me another look,
You got off the train, you never looked behind
I tried, but I can't get you out of my mind.
Woman on the eastbound train,
Sometimes I wanna see you again.
Well I got one more thing I wanna say before I go
If you get the message on the radio
You can write a letter, get in touch with me,
Leave your number with the company, yeah.
Woman on the eastbound train,
Sometimes I wanna see you again.
song performed by by Dire Straits
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Maid-Servant At The Inn
"It's queer," she said; "I see the light
As plain as I beheld it then,
All silver-like and calm and bright-
We've not had stars like that again!
"And she was such a gentle thing
To birth a baby in the cold.
The barn was dark and frightening-
This new one's better than the old.
"I mind my eyes were full of tears,
For I was young, and quick distressed,
But she was less than me in years
That held a son against her breast.
"I never saw a sweeter child-
The little one, the darling one!-
I mind I told her, when he smiled
You'd know he was his mother's son.
"It's queer that I should see them so-
The time they came to Bethlehem
Was more than thirty years ago;
I've prayed that all is well with them."
poem by Dorothy Parker
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The Refugees
In the shabby train no seat is vacant.
The child in the ripped mask
Sprawls undisturbed in the waste
Of the smashed compartment. Is their calm extravagant?
They had faces and lives like you. What was it they possessed
That they were willing to trade for this?
The dried blood sparkles along the mask
Of the child who yesterday possessed
A country welcomer than this.
Did he? All night into the waste
The train moves silently. The faces are vacant.
Have none of them found the cost extravagant?
How could they? They gave what they possessed.
Here all the purses are vacant.
And what else could satisfy the extravagant
Tears and wish of the child but this?
Impose its canceling terrible mask
On the days and faces and lives they waste?
What else are their lives but a journey to the vacant
Satisfaction of death? And the mask
They wear tonight through their waste
Is death's rehearsal. Is it really extravagant
To read in their faces: What is there we possessed
That we were unwilling to trade for this?
poem by Randall Jarrell
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