Night in the Train Station

After scanning the floor, a lucky break:
There's a bench with an open seat I can take.
Forty-two minutes, my train will arrive,
I sip my coffee: stay awake, stay alive.

Two nearby hobos fight loudly and curse,
"But," I think to myself, "It could always be worse."
And when I get up, I confirm what I think:
In the men's room a man cleans his socks in the sink

I glance at the clock, must be soon, I believe,
But thirty more minutes until my reprieve.
The piped in music's rhythm competes
As a crackhead's rhythmic mantra repeats.

"I don't know, I don't  know, I don't," he intones
While most of us hide our heads in our phones.
I get up once more; find a new bench again,
With eighteen more minutes till I see my train.

A brief pause in this concert: a policeman walks by.
And for a moment I let out a sigh.
My new benchmate smells of many foul things,
And a few feet behind me a raspy voice sings.

Nine minutes remain in this unwanted storm
So I start to meander towards the platform
When suddenly I hear the loudspeaker say
"Just hold on there, fella, there's been a delay."

The passengers turn at this new renege
Avoiding eye contact like it was the plague.
I close my eyes tightly; fall back in my seat,
A Sisyphean encore, the show will repeat.

Creekside, helpless

Alone I sit beside a tree
Which sits beside a creek.
A lonely man stares back at me:
He looks, but does not speak.

Relieved, I nod in thanks to him,
His silence is a gift.
When he nods back, I grab a limb,
Release it, watch it drift.

It's journey is my focus now;
My new friend? Left behind.
I watch the twig with furrowed brow.
Our fates are intertwined.

It floats, gets caught in rocks, then, free,
Is sent over a fall
I run beside, trip, scrape my knee;
I search for what I saw

I wait beyond the dam's short drop
For my stick to emerge.
I squint into the stream, then stop.
It must still be submerged.

I sigh, and before I return
Look upward toward the sky
Thus, missed it safely leave the churn
Yes, that's a nice, fine lie.

A twig that I did not see crushed
Must still be floating, see?
I think this and my friend (still hushed)
Shrugs sadly back at me.