PaloVerde
The Arizona State University West
Literary Magazine

May, 2002
Volume 10, Number 1
 

Poetry

 
Thomas Montgomery

Thomas Montgomery also contributed "School Clothes" to this issue of PaloVerde.

Southbound
by Thomas Montgomery

He lay on the tracks, waiting
for the two-fifteen from Toronto.
A faint vibration ran through the rails,
distant voices whispering truths to him
which he could not quite hear.
Cool steel beneath his neck
soothed, comforted under sky gray,
air heavy with pain.
The pain of a thousand years of living
alone,
captured inside himself
like a featherless bird, unable
to break out of its shell.
The voices grew louder,
certain words reaching his ears.
Voices of angels, angry, challenging
him to rise up from the tracks.
"Why don’t they help me?"
His body was pinned to the intersection
of tie and rail.
The spikes burned hot through the flesh
of his hands and feet.
"Father, let this cup pass from my lips.
I am not responsible for these sinners."
An old blues tune passed through his head--
"Beggin’ an’ cryin’ won’t help you . . ."
It would be another thousand years
before the two-fifteen arrived.
He would wait.

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© Copyright 2002 Thomas Montgomery and Arizona State University West
Last Updated: April 25, 2002