Day 51- Railroad Bridge Poem 2006

The iron bridge on the BNSP railroad over the Salt River in Paris, MO photo below reminded me of the old bridge on the Rock Island Trail over the Spoon River near Wyoming IL. I wrote a poem about this bridge in 2006. The trestle bridge carried trains on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy right of way all the way to  the Rocky Mountains and Denver, CO.

The Old Railroad Bridge Over Spoon River by BR Schoenbein © 2006

The old railroad bridge,
Black-iron,
Spider-webbed frame,
Round rivets,
Spans the trifling limestone bluffs,
Beyond Spoon River,
Reaching for worlds long past,
Of pioneer pilgrims,
Amid amethyst cornflowers,
Burnt sunflowers,
Blue-iced asters,
Dark- clustered stands,
Of black walnuts and hickories,
Swaying shoulder tall prairie grass,
Unknown anonymous gravestones,

She once carried departing trains,
From Peoria to Denver,
Now only hikers, bikers,
Seekers of the long-forgotten.
All of us pilgrims,
On corridors colliding into the future.
Worlds,
West, ablaze,
With fiery strands never to return.
Bright-eyed spirits transversing,
Iron-black railroad bridges.