So Much More

It is pornography
in a way,
my obsession
with tranquility,
with a life lived slow.

I obsess on trains,
miles of tracks,
destinations...

...eventually.

Seen in their time,
the fastest
way to get
from here
to there.

Yet so far from
an instant was it.
One had time to think.
One had time to consider.
Fellow humans
interacted,
face to face.

Considered,
a look,
considered,
a brow raised,
considered,
the slightest
english of the body.

Subtle so were they,
considerations
done slowly
carefully,
unconscious,
yet considered.

There was time.
Time to think.
Time to reason,
Time to wonder.

No devises,
no itinerary,
at least just yet.

No.

Instead,
time was filled,
with scenery,
a cow in the pasture,
A log laying
for no reason,
upright upon a hill.
The sound of the tracks
hypnotic comfort,
pretending speed was at hand,
clacking every second,
yet seconds were minutes,
minutes, hours,
and no need
to jump ahead,
wondering what
our destination
would reveal.

We absorbed,
everything,
sights and sounds,
the beauty that abounds.
Smells that passed,
jasmine at night
blossoms at noon.

Life was lived,
one moment at a time.
And very few felt
the angst;
anxiety and nerve,
pressing one to
deadlines
constructs and goals
others demanded,
upon their souls.

The children were safe,
because there was no hurry,
to change, to discard,
the evils fermenting
in minds
that never allowed,
one's fears to abate.

No cycles of misery,
sped up upon,
the furious pace,
to get there now,
defeat time
defeat space.

We had the time,
on those
railroad tracks,
to think the thought,
completely thought.
We considered
and reasoned,
and then left it alone.

We listened
to another,
and felt what they felt.
We had so much,
and pretend now,
we have
so much more.

I look at the paths,
where trains once traveled,
gone now, only faint
open spaces,
where,
they traveled fast,
with less speed.

Fast enough to
get us there,
yet slow enough
to let us care.

We care less now,
and have so many things,
to make us feel,
complete
and real.

I wish for those tracks
and so much less,
a wish I wish
and truly adore,
because there
once truly was,
so much more.