Track Insight / Lyrics
The platform hums beneath my feet
A timetable rustles to its beat
I should have gone, but I remained
And watched my chance depart uncaged
My pocket held a ticket for the south
The conductor called my number out
I watched the engine breathe exhaust
And felt the soil beneath my feet
The horn insisted that doors would close
While sparrows worried through the rows
I rubbed the stem of Oxalis coccinea
And chose the train I came to miss
A paper cup of bitter, blackened tea
Sent trembling waves of steam up to me
The porter checked his pocket watch twice
As timetable dust settled on the rice
I knew exactly where this road would bend
Where winter rain would meet the pines and end
I pressed my palm against the porter's glass
And watched my wanted leaving pass
But I wanted this train to pull away
I wanted the whistle to fade
So I could learn the courage not to follow
And the roots that keep their faith
I wanted lost to loosen up my name
And leave my doubt outside the door
Oh, I wanted this train to pull away
But still I loved it more
More, more, more
But still I loved it more
The primrose opened by the unfinished road
Where maples scratched their fingerprints abroad
I catalogued the reasons not to run
And laid them gently in the sun
The whistle curled around a leafless branch
The porter's shadow crossed a wooden bench
I opened up my Iris forlorn
And read the future I had sworn
Yet something in the barren, winter grass
Kept pulling hope across the glass
A hydrangea slept beneath my seat
Its roots imagined sweeter summer heat
I'd planted questions in a numbered tray
And pruned the answers that had wandered away
The train would cross a viaduct in the rain
Then wander somewhere I would love again
I felt the timetable tremble in my hand
Like fertile ground before the planting man
I counted every stone beside the rail
Each different gray, each dot and pale
The porter called the places on the line
But I was listening for a sign
A self-seeded Aster by the fence
Kept finding light without a defense
No bird returned the thistledown it lent
So I went where the uncertain went
And found a stubborn green beneath the glass
Still growing where the winter passed
Forgive me, Latinus, I was late
I let the platform teach my fate
The moss endured beneath the stone
And I can wait here on my own
The departing train can whistle twice
My rooted heart is learning patience nice
No, I can learn
But I wanted this train to pull away
I wanted the whistle to fade
So I could learn the courage not to follow
And the roots that keep their faith
I wanted lost to loosen up my name
And leave my doubt outside the door
Oh, I wanted this train to pull away
But still I loved it more More, more, more
But still I loved it more
And I wanted this train to pull away
I wanted the whistle to fade
So I could learn the courage not to follow
And the roots that keep their faith
I wanted lost to loosen up my name
And leave my doubt outside the door
Oh, I wanted this train to pull away
But still I loved it more
More, more, more
But still I loved it more
And the soil kept growing more
The rails release the evening light
My coat is warm, the platform's right
I'll graft another hopeful branch
Where winter ends and spring begins
