by B.J. Lee
Trains echo through my dreams,
rumbling by in darkness
like faraway thunderstorms.
The train pushes a cone
of gold before it.
Sometimes the train stops
and I climb aboard.
I travel through the night
until I come to the place
where the dawn is born.
I walk in perfect sunlight,
then night comes again
and the train carries me home.
Copyright © 2013 B.J. Lee. From the book The 2013 Rhysling Anthology. Hadrosauur Press. Reprinted by permission of the author.
This poem, originally published in Beyond Centauri, was nominated for The Rhysling Award in 2013. Although the poem didn’t win, it was published in The Rhysling Anthology 2013. This poem is an example of speculative literature, which includes fantasy and science fiction.
B.J. Lee is passionate about children’s poetry. Her work appears in many anthologies
including: Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive for Kids, The 2013 Rhysling Anthology, The 2012 Rhysling Anthology, The 2011 Rhysling Anthology, And the Crowd Goes Wild: A Global Gathering of Sports Poems among others. Her work has appeared in many magazines as well, including Highlights for Children.
You can find more of her poetry on her blog http://bluewindow.weebly.com/, visit her at http://www.childrensauthorbjlee.com/, and friend her at https://www.facebook.com/bjaylee
Oh, I really like this, B.J. “Pushes a cone of gold”–wonderful!
Thanks Kate! My grandparents lived near a railroad track and, when I slept over, I would have dreams like this — nice inspiration for the poem!
Way to go, B.J.!
Wonderful I’ve lived by trains my hole life but have never wrote about them or rode on one :)
Thanks Neal!
Jessica – it’s never too late to write a poem! I loved hearing the train at my grandparent’s house as I drifted off to sleep or even during my sleep. I often dreamed about trains when sleeping over.