What is on the train
rolling through my city
so important
the conductor sounds the whistle
every other second
from three to five a.m.?

Is it danger? Contagion?
A treasure?
A child asleep on the tracks?

A father awake in his house.

We carry what we do not own,
Train. Who will hold
us harmless
for damage to property
in our care, custody, and control?

Chad Reynolds is the author of a poetry chapbook, Victor in the New World (2008). His poems and reviews have appeared in Washington Square, Octopus, Sawbuck, Puerto del Sol, RealPoetik, Verse Daily, Love Among the Ruins, HTML Giant, Free Verse, and elsewhere. He lives near Oklahoma City with his wife and two sons.