Railways And Their Things

You either love
or hate
the smell of railways
and their things.

That musty, medieval smell of
steel powder,
stones
and heavy hammers.

Old passenger carriages,
in particular,
ooze this essence,
along with the smell-in-waiting
of aging timber,
sagging, dusty upholstery
and the mingling of a million human skin oils
on their window ledges.

PH - 1990