Before only seen on the television
\nWhile watching James Bond on TV
\nNow the English speaking stranger
\nIs no secret agent, far less glamorous, it is me\u2026
\nIn this land that is modernising fast
\nLittle of the soviet time remains\u2026
\nBut a remnant still working of the former days
\nAre these beautiful old trains.<\/p>\n
A couple from Mexico are in my carriage
\nA Bosnian who has family here
\nAnd a Roma family are hassled
\nBy train police when they appear.
\nThe Bosnian spoke of his country
\nDuring the war now thankfully past,
\nMexicans listen to talk of Ireland and Longford
\nAs the small stations fly past.<\/p>\n
The Bosnian translated for the locals
\nWho wanted to know where I was from:
\nWe speaking fellow strangers:
\nWhere was I going, why did I come.
\nFamilies, hopes for the future,
\nThe common bond of man,
\nCommon language of tears and laughter
\nAs we struggle by best we can.<\/p>\n
In time we reach the borders
\nInspections of passports
\nTime for duty free shopping
\nBottles of beer, spirits for shorts
\nThe train takes its time in leaving
\nLife to hurry it is too short
\nWe see Kosovos hills in the distance
\nWhich reminds us of life\u2019s worth.<\/p>\n
Should I there ever go again
\nI know with regret it will not be the same
\nTime and modernisation will have caught up there
\nAll will have changed, great is the shame.
\nThen, you traveled as if one of the country people
\nBoth parties which of life\u2019s hardships complains
\nNot spoiled by greed and capitalism
\nOn the old Soviet era trains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Before only seen on the television While watching James Bond on TV Now the English speaking stranger Is no secret agent, far less glamorous, it is me\u2026 In this land that is modernising fast Little of the soviet time remains\u2026 But a remnant still working of the former days Are …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[82,81],"tags":[85,88,2347,86,87,84],"class_list":["post-36","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-balkan-odyssey","category-travel-poems","tag-epic-journeys","tag-kosovo","tag-macedonia","tag-poems-on-trains","tag-poems-written-on-a-train","tag-train-travel","column","twocol"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7EI4f-A","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":311,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/a-phonecall-overheard\/","url_meta":{"origin":36,"position":0},"title":"A Phonecall Overheard","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"15th November 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A double suicide delayed by train back to Dublin after the Poets Express event in 2010. The pointlessness of it inspired the following poems. A woman speaks... I overhear As others talking ot their phones I hear Informing others of their lateness... \"Dear!\" As someone on the line has died.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Death"","block_context":{"text":"Death","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/death\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3171,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/this-could-be-ireland-through-which-im-passing\/","url_meta":{"origin":36,"position":1},"title":"This Could Be Ireland Through Which Im Passing","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"24th September 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"On a train journey from Macedonia into Serbia back in 2010, at the border crossing we entered the Presevo Valley. Reflecting on the Albanian wars in the region, I wrote this Haiku sequence. Low mountains, green fields: This, it could be Ireland Through which I am passing. Children herding cows:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Balkan Odyssey"","block_context":{"text":"Balkan Odyssey","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/travel-poems\/balkan-odyssey\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"View from a Train Carraige of the Presevo Valley","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/View-from-a-Train-Carraige-of-the-Presevo-Valley.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/View-from-a-Train-Carraige-of-the-Presevo-Valley.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/View-from-a-Train-Carraige-of-the-Presevo-Valley.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/View-from-a-Train-Carraige-of-the-Presevo-Valley.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":462,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/other-people-set-the-options-we-must-choose\/","url_meta":{"origin":36,"position":2},"title":"Other People Set the Options, We Must Choose","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"4th September 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This poem was inspired by an interview with Colonel Colm Mangan of the Irish PDF, on his retirement. He told of working with the UN in Sarajevo and of a sniper shooting tow innocent people dead and him being unable to choose which one would live when challenged. Sniper:: \u201cThere\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "War Poetry"","block_context":{"text":"War Poetry","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/war-poetry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1424,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/skopje-at-night\/","url_meta":{"origin":36,"position":3},"title":"Skopje At Night","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"28th January 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The ladies are very friendly In the carpark outside the hotel If your interested and have money For you all will be well... I say no, ladies, not this time! I wave, walk past with a smile A trucker stops and whistles The girl to him goes for a while.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Balkan Odyssey"","block_context":{"text":"Balkan Odyssey","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/travel-poems\/balkan-odyssey\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Skopje city at night","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Skopje_at_Night.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Skopje_at_Night.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Skopje_at_Night.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":101,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/same-bus-new-faces\/","url_meta":{"origin":36,"position":4},"title":"Same Bus – New Faces","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"9th July 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Changing places, same seats, A smile greets on boarding, no more the girl from Dunnes - Or that man who worked at something big in the city. Some students, looking weary from last nights party, An old man, maybe heading to hospital And a high school student. 6am bus from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1287,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/freedom-to-be-still-a-slave\/","url_meta":{"origin":36,"position":5},"title":"Freedom – To Be Still a Slave","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"4th December 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Each man is free, so lucky is he To money to be, a slave so free... But he is not, let it not be forgot Master of his destiny, his lot... Before, his master, cruel, was Communism Today his master, unkind, is Capitalism Before, to speak was his fear Now,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Balkan Odyssey"","block_context":{"text":"Balkan Odyssey","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/travel-poems\/balkan-odyssey\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Freedom monument in Skopje, Macedonia. Defaced with graffitti of a Dollar $ sign, it shows to me how the country is now a slave to capitalism, as bad a tyrant as communism.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Free-To-be-a-Slave-to-Money-220x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions\/37"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}