I'm on the train

The buzz of conversation on the train

Makes it impossible to read or work,

Overhearing one end of a call

To cadge a lift or, wheedling, to shirk

A planned appointment, leaves me feeling numbed

That their lives carry on on while mine's on hold

Until a silence settles and my thoughts

Can focus on the present - yet untold

Confusions and a jumble of demands,

That early morning can't prioritise,

Raise memories of recent sleep which draw

My consciousness down to the gentler prize.

  For now dreamless oblivion, gentle death,

  Seems preferable to this babbling mobile mess.

Brian Hick February 2009

©copyright Sally Hick February 2022