…From The Past

Artistic Nature

Yes. Dropped from the sky, a vision of the past. In my past my grandfather was an engineer on the Great Northern Railroad. I was quite proud of that. At every railroad track where we were required to wait while the train rumbled past, we watched carefully and hollered out, “There’s one!” at every Great Northern car that passed.

In Doctor Zhivago (the movie) a train carrying Trotsky goes rumbling past at great speed while the whistle screamed. It was breathtaking.

Trains were the arteries of the past, pumping magic and mystery along with the great turning wheels and screeching brakes. Every child dreamed of jumping onboard one of the open cars to be carried like a bum onto the next town. In my dreams sometimes I still see a railroad station where I stand, waiting for the next zephyr to come screaming down to take me somewhere, somewhere as yet unseen. And it’s always snowing, sometimes for Christmas.