No Going Back

                                       A winding track runs north and south
                                       Connecting the lost to the found;
                                       A rambling train runs back and forth
                                       On the track to No Going Back—
                                       Steel rails bear the load through the cold,
                                       Held in place by spikes pounded deep.
                                       In the train, on these rails, he sat
                                       Waiting to leave No Going Back.
                                       Through the land and over the bridge
                                       Heading from the lost to the found,
                                       Finding his way to a right day
                                       Taking him back from the wrong path;
                                       Mr. Lost—found—then lost again,
                                       Then boarded the train heading home.

                                       Rambling back over the bridge,
                                       On the track from No Going Back,
                                       To the detour through the tunnel—
                                       The dark tunnel - ever so black,
                                       The train approached then entered gloom
                                       Steaming from the north to the south.
                                       Steady she goes through the tunnel,
                                       The tunnel— tunnel-without-end.
                                       Lost in the black, his train, off track,
                                       Never reached its destination.
                                       Mr. Lost, that found, is now lost
                                       On a train that can’t find the light
                                       That would signal the other side—
                                       Of shadows from No Going Back.

                                       People standing in both stations
                                       Wonder if he is coming back.
                                       What Mr. Lost found was his end,
                                       The end-the-end-the-very-end.
                                       There’s no coming back from the end
                                       There’s no signal flashing home.