A Southbound Train

A Southbound Train
© 2025 Mitchell Scott — All rights reserved.

I saw her arrive on a southbound train,
She stood on the stairs as a gentle rain,
washed away cares — plain to see,
The miles she’d traveled brought her to me.

At a streetlight she paused, looked all around,
Studied the faces in this new town.
Empty-handed — not even a purse,
Leavin’ her baggage behind, or worse.

Long auburn hair tucked into her coat,
A green silken scarf wrapped round her throat.
I studied her face — not seen her before,
She came to the diner and walked through the door.

I watched her step softly through the diner's light,
She hung up her coat, brushed rain from the night.
A soft little smile, a spark in her eye,
She sat at the counter as the world passed by.

That southbound train brought her my way,
Changed my whole life on a rainy day.
Fate was waitin’, I can’t ex- plain,
What I found that night on a southbound train.

I asked if the rain had driven her in,
She laughed and said, “I just followed the wind.”
Coffee kept pourin’, the hours flew by,
The world disap-peared in her emerald eyes.

Years rolled along like the wheels of that train,
Sunshine and heartache, joy and pain.
Through every storm, her hand in mine,
She was my reason, my tie to the line.

My steadfast companion from the day she arrived,
‘Til that one dark night she didn’t survive.
The heartbreak I felt when I saw her face,
Told me, my true love could never be re-placed.

I watched the saplings - we planted grow tall by the gate,
Seasons kept comin’, but time doesn’t wait.
The sun seeks the horizon while the nights grow long,
The wind whispers her name like an old love song.

Now the days grow dim and my breath runs slow,
I’ll see her again where the angels go.
She’s been waitin’ on me at that station sign,
We’ll ride that southbound train — one last time.

Yes, I saw her arrive on a southbound train,
And we'll ride it home — on the wind.