215

        As I watched the crows fold
Back into themselves and fall
        To earth, a thought emerged
From a substrata of my mind,
Where it had been dormant and
Still and where in my distraction
At the passing phenomena of the
        World I had not detected it :

That nothing but friction and the
Mass of the engine and carriages
        Held the train fast to the rails,
        That as the wheels were made
To pivot as the bearing of the line 
Altered there could be no bond
        Of lateral pressure to adhere
        Wheel to rail but rather a
        Space allowed for movement.

As I watched the landscape pass
It now felt as if the carriage were
Descending into an acceleration
        Of which there could be only
One product and one terminus.