Overture to a Dance of Locomotives + 

I + 

Men with picked voices chant the names + 

of cities in a huge gallery: promises + 

that pull through descending stairways + 

to a deep rumbling. + 

The rubbing feet + 

of those coming to be carried quicken a + 

grey pavement into soft light that rocks + 

to and fro, under the domed ceiling, + 

across and across from pale + 

earthcolored walls of bare limestone. + 

Covertly the hands of a great clock + 

go round and round! Were they to + 

move quickly and at once the whole + 

secret would be out and the shuffling + 

of all ants be done forever. + 

A leaning pyramid of sunlight, narrowing + 

out at a high window, moves by the clock: + 

disaccordant hands straining out from + 

a center: inevitable postures infinitely + 

repeated⁠— + 

II + 

Two⁠—twofour⁠—twoeight! + 

Porters in red hats run on narrow platforms. + 

This way ma’m! + 

—important not to take + 

the wrong train! + 

Lights from the concrete + 

ceiling hang crooked but⁠— + 

Poised horizontal + 

on glittering parallels the dingy cylinders + 

packed with a warm glow⁠—inviting entry⁠— + 

pull against the hour. But brakes can + 

hold a fixed posture till⁠— + 

The whistle! + 

Not twoeight. Not twofour. Two! + 

Gliding windows. Colored cooks sweating + 

in a small kitchen. Taillights⁠— + 

In time: twofour! + 

In time: twoeight! + 

—rivers are tunneled: trestles + 

cross oozy swampland: wheels repeating + 

the same gesture remain relatively + 

stationary: rails forever parallel + 

return on themselves infinitely. + 

The dance is sure. + 