Departure 20
__This... was scribbled in November of 2002. _m
SUBWAY HERO
I had been there many times before,
And shrank in the clash of it all;
Breathing in the smells and sights
Of this cavern, this grimy hall.
The stretch of countless rushing trains,
Burned rubber, and electric sweat;
Pulsing through this living cell,
In foulest dust beset.
Above the grinding, toneless clatter,
A lonely voice was heard;
Cutting through this screeching din,
Saying but a single word.
"Repent," he coughed and blubbered through
His spirit sodden lips;
A broken, beaten, filthy beast,
That spat through lathered drips.
"Repent," he wheezed, and again that word,
Echoed through this oily hall;
And every step he took my way,
Surged my memory's crawl.
"Repent," he neighed as he reached my feet,
Whiskey bleeding from each eye;
He caught my gaze, then hid his face,
Then spewed his crippled sigh.
"Repent," he mumbled, then spilled away,
Wretched, reeking and worn;
Siding off in greasy steps,
He vanished, within his scorn.
Stunned, I followed those sodden eyes,
For what was there was known;
And I listened for that single word
"Repent," this drunkard's drone.
I searched and searched through noise and filth,
To find this wasted soul;
I rummaged every crack and den,
And every wretched hole.
I found my kin, in the muck and lice,
Curled in a fetal ball;
And I prayed he seemed again to me,
As he did when I was small.
He waved me off, and spat out words,
Preaching me in err;
That I should turn and walk away,
And leave him to his lair.
Not a brother, he said to me
Don't sorrow for my fall;
Go you back... to your life of ease,
I'm no brother after all.
Go quickly to your wife and young,
And leave me to my cave;
A rotting soul I am, you've seen,
Just searching for my grave.
Against my will, I honored his,
Stealing courage, I stepped my length;
And I heard his anxious, whispered plea;
Brother, leave with me your strength.
_
I've returned, uncounted times,
To this subway's sour gloom;
To search for him, within this beast,
Before he found his tomb.
But not the word, nor sight I'd see
Within this cavern's sore;
Of brother or beast, or broken man,
That wasted soul once more.
Then one day, in horror's grasp, "Repent,"
I heard, and I spun about;
To a brilliant light in my brother's eyes,
That beast... he had cast out!
When last we met, his shining words,
You gave as I did plea;
You took your leave, but left your strength,
And with it, I burst free!
This was my grave, this subway vault,
But hope, in your leaving fell;
To the strength you left, as you stepped away,
Your faith, has fought my spell.
I pass that faith in tearless fight,
To my brothers barrowed near;
That they may broach their hollow hell,
To slay that beast of fear.
_ _
When I return to this evil place,
To search within its reek;
I listen for his single word, his hymn
Is the sound I seek.
And
"Repent," bursts through this mortal clamor,
And with his messaged call;
My Brother is again to me... the hero,
He was... when I was small.
_m
