~
A Parable of the Edge
A downtown train approaches. Stand away.
Step aside. Let the customers off.
Eyes and ears of the city, say what you see
and hear. Does a Dispatcher hold the train?
Will it be moving shortly? One thing is sure.
there’s always a gap
between the train and the edge,
between the edge and the depths.
Something is bound to have dropped
on the tracks—a note, a claim ticket, a dollar bill.
Leave it, no matter what—even a mobile phone,
even a full bag of plantain chips,
even an emerald acquired
in Teheran not long
before the Shah was overthrown.
Up ahead, a passenger falls ill—she
should never have gotten on the train.
Hundreds of people will be delayed.
She’ll say she’s sorry, but she thought
she had to board
to get to work.
You’ll make the same plea when the next
train approaches and you
are clambering over the tracks,
searching for something.
The steel undercarriage will drag you
through the lairs of rats—brakes shrieking,
unable to stop. The people will shriek too,
not wanting to witness your untimely death. Tell them
you couldn’t help it. You jumped off the platform
to retrieve the priceless Persian gem
vanishing just now under the sludge.
~
Sarah White
Sarah White has published 6 poetry books and has a memoir forthcoming from Dos Madres Press—”The Poem Has Reasons: a story of far love”.