I waited on
In the late autumn moonlight,
A train droning out of thought—
The mind on moonlight
And on trains.
Blind as a thread of water
Stirring through a cold like dust,
Lonely beyond all silence
And humming this to children,
The nostalgic listeners in sleep,
Because no guardian
Strides through distance upon distance,
His eyes a web of sleep.
This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on May 1, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.