night train to mumbai

a million points of light surround in constant constellations as unafraid our carriage speeds to distant destinations — the wheels clank, an axle creaks and, up ahead, a horn tells of our passage through the night and in the darkness warns. from time to time a fire winks by a cottage still, village squares are sometimes lit between the rolling hills. faint chance we have to break the night with our rude bustling clatter; in quiet sleep the country lays under celestial matter.

winter 2004