Charicature of Intimacy

They sit on the train
Reading, talking, listening
Tickets ready and waiting
A conductor comes through
The passengers don't know
His son is dead.

The business man
Whose wife is having an affair
Because he comes home late
Doesn't know.

The teenage girl
Holding hands with her boyfriend
Wondering if he'll leave her
Doesn't know.

The working mother
Editing her manuscript on the train
So she can play with her son at home
Doesn't know.

The senior boy
Filling out scholarship applications
Wondering where he'll go to college
Doesn't know.

The conductor takes the tickets
He moves on.
Those people go home
To the lives they're unsure of.
The conductor goes home.
But he knows
His son is dead, still dead.
He goes home.
He knows.
--12.11.07