The gentle rocking of the train

Accompanied by the clicking of the rails

Lulled me into a welcome sleep

Warm and cozy in the sleeper car

I woke in the middle of the night needing to pee

Not wanting to get out of bed

Laying awake and listening

As the train rumbled through the darkness

Eventually I had to crawl out of my bunk

Careful maneuvering in the cramped quarters

Entering the world’s smallest toilet

Which would be a great challenge for any larger folks

Stumbling and falling back into bed

My body now refused to succumb

To the train’s hypnotic rhythm

Each rock and roll keeping me wider awake

I started to think of distant memories

Trying to recall the details of events past

Visualizing the faces of friends from long ago

Some of whom’s names escaped me

I thought of the faces from my old class photos

Wondering where all those folks were today

What kind of lives they have led

How far and wide did they scatter

I drifted off to sleep again

Waking as the train jolted

I had been dreaming about my schooldays

Chatting enthusiastically with my classmates

Their faces and voices were crystal clear

Conjured up from my sleeping memory banks

Back in those days I could never have imagined

That fifty years later I would be on the Autotrain dreaming of those times