216

The illusion all vehicles are made
To propagate of control had been
        Broken, and all ellided into a 
Generalised state of emergency in
Which no cause could be derived
From any end. All sound had gone
        Into the chassis of the train
        Where it trembled like a body
        Under fatigue. All of a sudden a
Sense of enervation came over me
And I realised I had experienced not
    The breakdown of all the systems
    Of the physical world, but a brief
    Attack of anxiety that seemed to
    Have confined itself to my person :
Down the carriage I saw that
The other passengers retained their
Placid expressions of disinterested
        Observation : some even dozed.

        I felt my heart climb down
From its vantage in my gorge
And settle into a phatic rhythm,
        And my lungs dilate and admit
Air, and stars danced before
        My eyes forming faint vortices.