Train Triptych Part Last: Without Warning

Without a whistle
without a lurch,
the train moved out.
Stationary at the crossing
doing God knows what,
it finished,
and went along its way
unaware that three heartbeats before—
one thump thump,
two thump thump
three thump thump,
a boy had been shoving his bicycle
between the cars
then clambering up and over after it,
impatient to get along his way.
The boy did not know the train was about to move.
The train did not know the impatient boy was about to act.
One heart beat sooner—
one thump thump—
the boy would’ve been crushed.
The train has a mind of its own. Be careful.

creative synthesis . . .