Moments on a Moving Train

The subway screeches to an unexpected halt,

like all the world paused, hanging on a fault.

A girl, maybe sixteen, wipes tears from her face,

her silence a heavy, unspooled thread of grace.

We’re crammed like sardines, each person so near,

yet the air feels thick with unuttered fear.

But in that brief stillness, I felt something shift,

connections unspoken—a quiet heart's gift.