Final Stop Start
by Odin odin@aflx.com — Read all 3,869 poems by Odin odin@aflx.com
A prosetry exploration on being alone in a big city where creating unique company, especially late night, early morning, is often the only means for managing one’s sanity. (Image by Storman)
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Final Stop Start
by Odin Roark
It never had a expiration,
Nor did he remember when he found it.
Like a worry stone in his pocket
Except it wasn’t a stone.
It was especially comforting
In romantic movies,
All night fast food joints,
Dark barrooms,
Starbucks’ lounges,
Rain soaked streets,
Anyplace he was alone.
Like the pass key of a dream,
It stayed in his pocket
A companion as he sat alone
In his favorite subway car,
Always at night,
Always stopping at empty stations,
Year after year.
Then at one stop,
A voice from nowhere said,
“This is it.”
Dreamer as he was,
He exited onto an empty platform,
Save for the angel-like woman in all white,
Smiling,
Gesturing to follow.
He’d never seen such a bright color
Streaming down a subway exit before.
Yes, he thought,
Maybe this is it,
My stop,
My very own exit.
He smiled back.
Peering into the sunlight
He fingered his pocket
His companion had moved on.
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In one of those episodes from the "Tales From The Darkside" that I had watched was called, "The Last Car". It shows a woman got on the last subway run for the day but she could never get out of that train. There were few others with her too in that same subway car, but the train would just keep on running and would never stop. She was there 'til she turned into skeleton like the others.
Then in another show called "The Twilight Zone", one of the episodes that I had watched was called "Last Stop Willoughby". It was about a very stressful man, feeling stressed out by his wife, and the day to day demands of his job in his father-in-law's company, got onto a train where he would dream that the last stop was called Willoughby. - A place that was always like a Saturday afternoon: Sunny blue sky, and a summer day; and the little boys would run around like Huckleberry Finn, fishing by the riverbanks. - A rather relaxing place where everyone's lifestyle was carefree, without the day-to-day worries. This was a repeated dream that the man would have whenever he gets on the train; so the man had made a decision that next time when the train stops at Willoughby in his dream he would get off.
Though in the Twilight's Zone episode, the ending was not of what I had expected, but in my personal opinion the moral between the two stories is that: one can either stay in a rut until one turns into a skeleton; or one can simply step out into the sunlight and enjoy life. The choices are always there, but it's entirely up to one to decide.
Sandie :o)