Montgomery
A free verse
--
They heard her rugged voice whisper
a formidable love song in their ear
her golden sounds echoing in time:
shew-shew-shew-shew-shew-shew
steel wheel upon metal track
she bellowed them back
coal cars as dusty as the little
one-shop whistle-stop
that they would call home.
Immigrants, Jews and blacks
society’s outcasts
gathered at her banks
where ancient summits
rise in testament
to what happens
if time is left to run its course.
Generations would come and go,
come and go,
and go,
and go,
and go…
Wait -
she pleaded
Come back -
she begged
her riverbanks running
through mountain passes
past vestiges of
human progress
long forgotten
time moved on
while she remained, her
blemished face wearying,
tired eyes and aging bones
sinking
downward
downward
Goodbye, Miss 4th of July —
they bid her adieu
onward in the name of progress
swapping one bank for another;
all the while, she remained
steadfast, clinging to hope
a living wreckage of the outcast,
the forgotten —
Montgomery.
