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.

[Emily B]

Tomas,
You remind us to use our words for greater good. How many old women sit on trains every day. I wonder what they must think about in their solitary silence. There are so many things in this world that we can change. I have always admired your ability to see what should be.

[Alias Fletcher]

Wow! A thought provoking poem. The poet uses an old woman as a mirror to compare the injustices of two societies. The reader is left with the question. Great write, charly

[~Mariposa Una Lila~]

ah how intence and beautiful! x0x0x

[Ashton]

I really enjoyed reading this. Nicely done :)