Trains of Thought

Eight AM the alarm rings
And the first train of thought today
Pulls out of the station.
The slow chugging can be murderous in the morning
--The cold engine stutters--
But when that shrill whistle blows
The call of the tracks is loud and unapologetic.
In the bathroom, it is hard to differentiate the steam in the shower
from the steam engine now picking up momentum
The train is now moving down the line at a startling speed
The workers on the tracks stop and take a step back
as they see the determined front wheels barreling towards them
There is a coal deep in my soul that fuels this train.
If a train of thought leaves one side of my brain
at a hundred thousand thinks a minute,
and another train of thought leaves the other side of my brain
at a hundred million thinks a minute
at what point would those two thoughts collide?
And furthermore what would become of it?
If a train leaves my brain
at two hundred thousand thinks a minute
and another train leaves your brain
at three hundred thousand thinks a minute
who will say what they are thinking first?
If my train passes your train
at an unquantifiable speed
will we still look back at each other
after we’ve gone
and wonder what would have happened if we’d have been on the same track?
At some point on your journey you forget where you were headed when you left.
But somehow it’s okay because the engines won’t stop, the engines can’t stop
So you just keep rolling
Until the engine breaks down,
or the conductor gets tired,
or the tracks end
Or the station you now remember you were headed for
Can been seen on the horizon.