Little Red Train

Little red train-
Cherry and holly Christmas train,
chipped spider-web wheels – I know that those fixed wheels will creak and
chug, move and you’ll travel faraway, faraway, far
away to far-off realms of dreams and stories.
Windows of painted luminosity – I know there’s life cloaked by those curtains.
And teddy! – Dressed in Santa clothes,
I wave back all the time, all the time.

There’s a gold clasp running down the side.
Click open the inside –
A cave whispering long gone innocence.
Nooks and crannies.
A dangly Indian earring with black-veined turquoise stones,
A copper mosaic piece; a symbol of sorority,
Paper stars of silver –
Debris of broken friendship.

One day- Those wheels shall groan awake,
I will let you fly,
but you will still
carry fragments of me.