A TREMULOUS word, a lingering hand, the burning <br />Of restless passion smoldering--so we part; <br />Ah, slowly from the dark the world is turning <br />When midnight stars shine in a heavy heart. <br /> <br />The streets are lighted, and the myriad faces <br />Move through the gaslight, and the homesick feet <br />Pass by me, homeless; sweet and close embraces <br />Charm many a threshold--laughs and kisses sweet. <br /> <br />From great hotels the stranger throng is streaming, <br />The hurrying wheels in many a street are loud; <br />Within the depot, in the gaslight gleaming, <br />A glare of faces, stands the waiting crowd. <br /> <br />The whistle screams; the wheels are fumbling slowly, <br />The path before us glides into the light: <br />Behind, the city sinks in silence wholly; <br />The panting engine leaps into the night. <br /> <br />I seem to see each street a mystery growing, <br />In mist of dreamland--vague, forgotten air: <br />Does no sweet soul, awakened, feel me going? <br />Loves no dear heart, in dreams, to keep me there?<br /><br />John James Piatt<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/taking-the-night-train/
