April 7, 2012

Submitted to All Aboard Washington by a hopefully future member:

By Zoë Garrett

Sometimes,
When I lie awake in the dark,
I can hear the trains:
Forlorn whistles echoing,
Sounding through the hills,
And I imagine that I can hear
The clack of wheels on tracks
Weaving in between the sound
Of the lonely whistle.

Sometimes,
When I lie awake in the dark,
The sound of airplanes
Drowns out the trains,
And I think:
Go away airplanes!
I want to hear the trains,
With their echoing whistle
And far-off rumble of wheels on tracks.

Sometimes,
When I lie awake in the dark,
The lonely trains are my lullaby
Because my first train memory
Is of surfacing from sleep
To the sway-and-clack rhythm,
And I felt I belonged right there,
For nowhere else was right for me
At that thirteen-year-old moment.

Sometimes,
When I lie awake in the dark,
My steampunk lullaby is replaced
With airplane’s commercial drone
Sounding of polished white floors
And that airport-smell, so distinctive.
I think Go away because
If I fall asleep to the trains,
Maybe…maybe I will wake up
In That Place.
The one where I

Belong.

(Zoë is an 8th grader at Washington Middle School in Seattle. She has been writing poetry for several years and we are pleased to be publish Steampunk Lullaby.)