I look out the window.

The world flies past.

Farms, cities, mansions, yurts.

People going about their daily lives.

I want to join, but I can’t.

I’m stuck on the train.

You know the model of restaurants?

You eat what you want,

then pay before you go.

The train is the same.

As I ride, I garner a bill.

Once I leave, the debt incurs.

I must pay, or be stuck on the train.

I cannot afford to step off.

The train keeps going.

Every mile, my weight makes it burn

An extra half-gallon than it would,

Raising the bill.

Every time I must eat,

I eat from the train’s concessions,

Raising the bill.

I cannot pay the bill,

So I must stay on longer,

Raising the bill.

The train goes station to station.

Houston, Phoenix, Washington DC

People get on, most get off.

Many get stuck like me.

 

Am I doomed to ride,

As the world passes by?

Wandering the country,

Talking to passengers,

Hoping to ease my ennui

By interaction with others

But they leave, and I stay

I cannot go with them

For the bill is too high.

I could try to flee.

Once they know I’m missing,

They know my ID.

They’ll track me down,

Make me pay or be jailed.

Jails is much worse,

Than being stuck on the rail.

Must I jump off, while the train at speed,

To rid myself of the station master’s greed?

My family must pay, then,

And they cannot.

I’d be abandoning them to rot.

A person who’d do that to them, I am not.

I must continue riding around,

And never again step on ground,

For the bill is too high.