Old Woman on the Train to Faro

Poem inspired by an ethnically dressed old woman on the train from Lisbon to Faro on my trip there lately...

An old woman on a train to Faro
Sits opposite, and does not smile
Or speak, or acknowledge I am there
Just sits, and looks away while
I opposite sit, sometimes dozing
As along the train it speeds
From Lisbon down to Faro
As if powered by magic steeds.

Dressed in black and worn with age
Shes like from another time
I wonder of the life shes led
And know she wonders not of mine.
Shes seen Hitler and Salazar
Both men rule, rise and fall
Shes seen war and false politicians promises
In her time shes seen it all.

A photo I took in passing
As a video I shot of the train
And of this old woman
A solitary shot does remain.
Is she the Kathleen Ni Houlihan of Portugal
Who looks forward from the past
Is she of a time of decency
A relic standing, as the last?

For in our race for modernisation
None for decency now stand
In the name of equality
We have abortion on demand...
More babies die each year today
Than in the holocaust in its time
But they dont count, not being born
Its not murder, its not a crime.

Today its only babies
Tomorrow euthenasia for the sick and old
Its better for society
Its for our own good we are told.
This happened before in Europe
We disposed of societies waste
In gas chambers, gas vans, concentration camps
So weve already had a taste

Fool us once shame on you, they say
Fool us twice shame on on us its said
Were being shames by the march of progress
Which says its better be dead
For the ill, the infirm, the unwanted unborn
It will cure societies ills
The price is high, the price is death
To pay socities ills.

This old woman on the train to Faro
Education she may have none
She may have finished her schooling
When the last war begun.
And out in the depths of Asia
In the self declared emirates of Waziristan
We would not call them too advanced
Who ally with the Taliban.

They stone adulterers and dont tolerate freedom
To worship as you will
Chop hands of thieves, dont let women drive
And all freedoms they kill.
But they dont allow abortion
Euthenasias illegal too...
Who is more human, these tribesmen
Or westerners like me and you?

Well this old woman on the train to Faro
She comes from a time
And a people who believed in decency
When all murder was a crime
She and her generation
Were civilised to a man
If not as advanced and as educated as we
Like her freinds in Waziristan.

Reviews

[emmajoy]

I don't know how to respond to this post, it has me gripped in all tangents of its telling. The actual writing, its format, subtle meter is more than evident .. but what to say about the content.
I've visited and wept in the holocaust museum in Jerusalem, i've seen two sisters die one with cancer, another from leukaemia, my father was a doctor and i believe in the preciousness of life but would have one of my beloved dogs put to sleep if either one was suffering. So .. maybe I have to focus on the power of your writing for now, but, I'll return.

[Elaenor Aisling]

A wonderful piece. You thread the life of the old woman and current events together so seamlessly, drawing from the past to shed new light on the present. Brilliant.

[Richielee]

wow this is perfectly metered and executed with fine finesse,applauds!

[Myra Lochner]

I like to follow the train of thought here, if you would forgive me being a bit pun-nish. GRIN

Your descriptive awareness impressed. Thank you.

[Neva Flores Smith - Cha..]

You have penned well your opinion on these subjects. I couldn't help but stop and think how we look at strangers and how stories unfold in our minds while reading this.

[Tomás Ó C..]

@ Emma, its a very emotive topic and very much a POV piece, and is just my take. I never ask anyone to agree with what I write, if I inspire them to think and think again that is cool!!!

Glad you enjoyed it!

[Donald Meikle]

Did you ever get the feeling you've been allowed to live, that bureaucracies have united to create their perfect world where nothing works, and there is nothing you can say to change it?

[Gandré]

This is very opionated poem; one should be careful with it. It is a pity Euthanasia is not allowed in Germany! Who needs oll the people - we are too many. I have a testament, I do not wish to be kept alive when I should fall into coma; I also would not let them treat me against cancer, I want natural selection - for me, I speak for me only; but we are different. The natural selection of this bio system is distorted, social scientists have periodically been drawn to the theory of natural selection as the source of explanatory insights about human behaviour and social institution - we need less science, less religion and more honesty which one would reach with personal seeking and questioning; ergo more by direct experience than brain-washing through religions and pseudo-gurus. I enjoyed your portrait of this woman.