Steel serpent slides beneath pale dawn,
its whistle the trumpet of waking towns;
rails shimmer like silver ribbons drawn
tight between yesterday and tomorrow.
Carriages sway—a lullaby in iron,
cradling commuters, dreamers, drifters;
windows frame passing murals:
paddy fields rinsed in dew,
smokestacks sketching charcoal spirals,
temples perched on red‑clay hills,
markets blooming in sudden color,
rivers rehearsing mirror tricks,
and a lone boy waving from a bridge.
The train keeps time with the heart:
ta‑tum ta‑tum, track‑beat mantra,
syncopated hope that stitches distances
into a single seamless moment.
Here, goodbyes dissolve in morning chai,
hellos wait folded like tickets
inside anxious pockets.
A mother hums folk songs to her child,
their accents braided with clatter;
students compare cities by dialect of clouds,
while vendors glide the aisle, balancing
tea, samosa, stories of other departures.
Overhead racks guard
patched suitcases, brass idols,
letters inked with nervous perfume—
proof that every seat is a frontier,
every berth an unfinished chapter.
Tunnels dim the carriage to candle‑lit hush;
faces glow in handset halos,
yet above cliffs the sun rehearses
a slow encore, painting graffiti
on diesel breath. Shadows flee
across maize and mustard,
like memories outrunning regret.
Evening folds the world in rust and rose;
station lamps bloom like fireflies
guiding pilgrims of steel.
Name boards flutter past—Lucknow,
Jhansi, Itarsi—syllables clicking
like typewriter keys writing
an epic of arrival.
Night thickens; the engine’s roar
becomes the ocean heard from sand dunes.
Passengers drift between here and elsewhere,
their breaths fogging myths on glass.
Constellations ride alongside,
stars nailed to a black‑velvet ceiling,
as if the cosmos itself commutes.
Yet even as the crowd pours onto tiled platforms,
the train lingers inside them—its rhythm repeating
in wrist‑watch ticks and traffic lights.
Office towers may drown whistles,
yet memory keeps the sway inside marrow,
reminding that forward is a gentle rocking.
Old lovers reread arrival boards,
rehearsing promises written in steam.
Children sketch engines in notebooks,
graphite horizons smudged by eager palms,
convinced all distances can meet in stories.
So at dusk they glance toward distant tracks,
sure a steel oracle moves beneath the stars,
ferrying letters, lullabies, second chances—
singing the anthem of onward ever.