Old Train Track, Pennsylvania

Old Train Track, Pennsylvania
We’ve walked in a lot of forests
My younger sisters and I
But coming upon the narrow valley cut through with steel
Is still a surprise
The light fading uncomfortably
From the mosaic leaves
Is this really a relic of the past?
Rusted symbol of mass transportation
Or could metallic tons of death
Suddenly bear down on our curious eyes?

We should go back, they say
Hand in hand we could walk back through the forest
To the campfire, the river
Where the sun is slowly drowning itself
In a pool of photographic fire
With a camera we
Can take this brief moment and capture its spirit
Though these are not the breathtaking mountains
This is just a valley in a forest with a train track running through

Hand in hand
Wood smoke and cool air nights
The moon rising in the river
And every star fallen as a firefly
Constellations before our eyes
And look how nothing would ever be the same after we left that valley
How we did not take the train to strange cities and new mornings
How we would forget the fear of the unknown
And only beauty would remain when we closed our eyes.