Monday, July 19, 2021

for Frances

 


SCENES FROM LONG AGO

On Beard Street,

In Kernersville, there are colorful

Wall murals which give glimpses

Into what was, long ago.


I saw ladies in billowing long

Red and white dresses standing

With gentlemen wearing tall hats

All waiting at the railroad station

For family arriving from faraway places.

Soon, they would all step into a horse

Drawn carriage to take a short ride home.


Nobody looked up to see the child

Perched high above who on bleak days

After school would climb to the flat roof

To wait for the trains to pass.


The trains were carrying weary passengers

Traveling to faraway places, and they were

Also going home.


Many years later, she would remember

The sound of the whistle as the trains

Passed and she would speak of the sound

As both sad and mournful,

Perhaps because it always

Strangely reminded

Her of all times past.


--- Marjorie J. Levine

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