THEN & NOW – A Sonnet

heady syringas               a garden in spring

a rhythmic mantra that the train tracks sing

amo   amas   amat                     as in a trance

they kiss entwined           under a rising moon

she day-dreams of sheiks on the ride to school

romance   true love   exotic lands    monsoons

but then she sees     guillotined by the wheels

a headless chicken      doing its manic dance

now her journey’s more confined      from the train

she still climbs slopes  flies kites  surfs turquoise waves

sees a lone arum            bloom in winter shade

picks ever-lastings           hears a scops owl call

memories flash by                  ecstasy  and pain

still-life framed         by the windows of a train