Hymnal of the Somber 6 Train

like machines

set to go and go

we drone through

these cramped quarters

only to travel some more

precision decisions

to shave precious seconds

from wasting away

we bleed time

into transit hell

more and more each day

the hustle and scrape

for survival pay

we soldier on

burning to do more

and be free of this

daily war

haunts us as we live it

and hunger for more

these dues we pay

and pay again

a thousand faces

press us close

and none of them a friend

Steerage

crowd-hobbled

rain-slicked platforms

where we scrum

for a place

among the two-legged livestock

bristling angry

pointless

like a neutered gamecock

careless spill of languages

and faces

the same misery

among the mad races

broken down and delayed

resigned to this misery

for the hardened underpaid

cheek by jowl
make our own way

and say a silent vow

of “Someday…”