The Empire Builder

I grew up with that train

Rumbling across the valley,

Parallel to the Milk River.

While out in the fields, I’d hear

A whistle, the Eastbound or the Westbound.

Would wonder why when the train ran late,

Worry when I heard that the Empire Builder

Had derailed in heavy snows in Glacier

Or that a freight had jumped tracks

Near Shelby and crews worked ‘round the clock.

When Dad sold the farm and moved to town,

He built his house across from the tracks.

Freights roared through my bedroom

When I visited, though I slept, comforted.

Everything seemed good when the trains

Ran on time (but I know an entire country

Was hoodwinked by that sentiment).  Now I ride

That train every year, through the mountains,

Across the prairies to home. Pinching pennies

Has always been my necessity but this year

I lived high on the hog. I rode the mysterious

Sleeper in comfort, blanketed, fed and waited on,

My wishes granted before they’d formed.

I was Queen of the Road.