Do trains still stop at Adlestrop?
And if they stop will any look
Glance out, take in, survey the scene?
Do Whitsun couples line the route
With bridal veils and clumsy heels?
Would any notice if they did?
And if past rosey Ruislip gardens
ran a red electric train
Who would stare from out its windows
Catch the views of backs of houses
Note the clacking of the lines?
Will the mail trains’ midnight journey
Clatter through commuters’ minds
When they’re bent, their eyes cast downward,
Staring at their mobile phones?
Gone the times of quite reflection,
Scenes half glimpsed; imagined things.
Plugged into their wretched ear phones
Who will hear if blackbird sings?
Imagination hit the buffers;
Signal failure down the line
End of reverie and reflection
Eyes cast down we squint at screens.
Who sees out the grimy window?
Who is looking out the train?
Where did quiet reflection go?
Will we know who went or came?
Andrew Green's Poems 