7.9.10

My love letter to trains.

My father has celebrated a birthday, and in New Zealand, it was Father’s Day. Guess who did not organize cards, gifts, or an outing? (Ahem.)

My plan was to write a post about my enduring love for trains. Instead, here is my silly love letter to trains:

My love letter to trains
How I love you, trains,
And the click clack of your wheels on the tracks.
I listen for your whistle at a crossing.

The hiss and puff of smoke from a steam engine,
From the fire in your belly.
Or the long, low whine of a diesel train.

How my heart races
When you cross a bridge.

How my ears go pop
When you enter
A tunnel through a mountain.

Whether your carriages are filled
With freight, or passengers,
You are going places,
Near and far, night and day.
Fast or slow.

Your carriages are all connected,
And when the engine pulls you,
You make a train.

You do the work of a thousand horses.

Only the switch of points
Sends you, or holds you back.

The little steam engine.

Cargo train heads south.

Parliamentary Express

Steam engine

Happy Birthday, Dad. And Happy Father’s Day, too. Thank you for sharing your love for trains with me.

9 comments:

Sarah (Chez Lee) said...

I love the old steam trains. I've just furnished reading, 'The Railway Children' to Sophie and want to track down the film now; it was always a favourite.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the GREAT Birthday/Father's Day Poem!

Love you,

Your Dad

CiCi said...

That is so cool that you and your dad share the interest in trains. Your pictures are really nice. As a kid I watched trains and was never impatient for them to go by, so now when a long train holds up the traffic I relax and enjoy watching and get into the whole experience. Happy Birthday to you dad.

Happy Frog and I said...

That's lovely, I'm so glad your dad has commented that he liked it, cool!

Madame DeFarge said...

That's way better than a card, you have to admit it.

From AA to NZ said...

Great train pictures. In fact, I think the last train I saw was in NZ.....

Alexandra said...

My 3 boys all adored trains growing up. We must've sat and watched every video with puffing steam engines for hours during the winter.

Happy birthday to your father, and happy father's day, too!

lisahgolden said...

I love this post.

Peter Tibbles said...

I don’t wish to be self serving. Oh, don’t be silly, of course I do. I did a column on music about trains. You can find it at http://www.timegoesby.net/weblog/2009/09/elder-music-trains.html