The engine gave a long metallic sigh

The engine gave a long, metallic sigh

and gave up the ghost behind a row of brick flats.

We sat there in the silence of the stalled track,

watching the dust motes settle on the seats.

Outside, a yard was choked with yellow weeds

and the skeleton of a plastic slide,

split down the middle like a lightning strike.

A pale blue sneaker was caught in the fence,

tied by its laces to the diamond wire,

swinging just enough to show the worn-out sole.

The sun had bleached the canvas into a ghost

while the rest of the world kept moving past.