The Silence of Trains

By Sarah Thursday
“You fall in love/ with someone who knows
the same silence as you”
-Daniel McGinn

I fell in love with the man
who knew the same silence—
the silence of trains up close
in roaring motion, the strength
is deafening, a lulling voice
its constancy feels like comfort

I loved the man who knew
the silence of city lights
from hill tops at midnight
the stars blushing down
at Los Angeles sprawled out
limbs open wide

The silence of public spaces
after dark, after closing,
after all other souls
are empty from it

I fell in love with the man
whose tongue filled
with paper and sand,
whose throat I saw dancing,
telling secrets, whose hands—
those hands said things
out loud for the first time

I’d been listening for years
Hear it? That silence it swallows me