I love you on the train,
your eyes roving, flicking with equal interest
flirt and tired.
Eyes that speak: touch me, feed me.
Eyes alight.
Bags rumple
crunkling
as she readies to get out.
A “people person”, not yet shy,
you
catch their eyes
in your big smile, cheeks widening,
pluming
Eyelashes that flutter.
You know how to get people to see your very soul.
Smile, as I touch your hand.
You, sweet, are the sounding train, bright light trekking
wordlessly, even, into all you will do.
I jotted this down on the Yamanote line 山手線 recently, with my boy.
The Yamanote is a huge train loop, 34.5 km, connecting most of Tokyo’s major centers & stops. We are train people, here in this metropolis. Our stroller is the car, on and off trains, up and down hills with shopping bags pinched on to handle bars. Besides swiping our train passes, we sure do walk a lot.
Incidentally, I was riding this very line when my water broke the first time around with my daughter. A very excited & incredulous me walked off at my stop(at 36 weeks), to go pack my bags at the house, eat a quick something while waiting for my hub, & climb into the cab that would take us to our birth house (also along the Yamanote line).
Beautiful words with such an adorable photo! And wait, your water broke on the Yamanote Line?? Crazy!! It sounds like you were so relaxed–walking back to your house and grabbing a bite to eat. I think I would’ve flipped!
Thanks for your fun & sweet comment, Miwa! Yes, with my daughter (1st), my water broke JUST as I was coming from a final shopping trip to Akachan Hanpo. I neeeeeeded those things for my bag to take to the birth house. I guess she knew I had finally gotten around to the trip, and that was enough for her. Boom. Yeah, a bit of flipping, a lot of excitement. (Truth be told, it wasn’t sooo much, or I would have just broken down with embarrassment or i dunno. A birth class teacher told our class to take a jar of olives around with us, in case. “If suddenly, any waters broke, just THROW down the olive jar, ladies!!!” I could have walked around the train car, offering olives & canape.)