Trip Through Dark Tunnel Poem by Chandra sekharan

Our train
Superfast, super luxurious
Was running non stop
As though to reach the other end of the world
Thousands of holidayers
With different culture, attire, language
Complexions and manners
Accommodated in one dozen
Beautifully decorated
Extremely comfortable coaches
It was racing forward
Without much noise
With occasional musical whistling
While bending left or right
Through large fixed glass windows
We could see unending sward
Disappearing fast
Tall, slender trees dancing
Depending on direction of wind
We could see small greenish hills
With projecting rocks on top
Vanishing in a winking time
We were crossing rivers
With turbulent, speedy flow of water
As though keen to merge
With shallow sea on the other end
Cluster of villages
With red tile roofs
Narrow passage lanes
And beautiful gardens
Grazing cattle and goats
Stopped eating and
Looked at the fast moving train
And few frightened ran away to take shelter
We were all reveled
Enjoying, drinking, eating
Singing and dancing
Few senior citizens
Indulged in conversation of
Serious topics
Of politics and philosophy
During dusk we could see full moon
Rising above jungle trees
And on the other side
Burning reddish solar globe
Getting slowly immersed
Into the bluish ocean
Our princely train went on running
And running
Until we reached
The circular entrance
Of a lengthy and dark tunnel
Tunnel of several kilometers
Piercing through several rocky mountains
We were told
That our tunnel was dug
Below lakes and thick forest
Located on surface of mountains
As we entered the dark tunnel
We enjoyed the journey
Because of the sudden change in surroundings
We had light and music in our compartment
Gradually we all became silent
No songs, no conversations
We all became grim faced
Children fell asleep ignoring their toys
Suddenly the speed the train got reduced
We could hear the metallic sound
Of clash between wheel and rail
The train came to grinding halt
Could be engine failure
Within few minutes
Light and music also went off
Could be battery failure
Dark compartments and dark tunnel
Panic stricken
We were all glued to our seats
Our train was lying
Like a dead snake in tunnel
Few hours passed, no indication of movement
At times we could see the flashing light of
Speedy train
Running in the opposite direction
We were hungry, thirsty and sweating
Screaming sound of the children, we heard
Hours of harrower and hell in darkness
Beads of tears soaked our cloths
We could not come out of the coaches
Since the tunnel was infested
With poisonous reptiles and dangerous animals
Suddenly there was a slight movement
Train jerked and was moving backward
An engine was towed to the tail bogey
And we were being hauled back
To the entrance of the tunnel
From where we started our dangerous journey
As we were approaching the entrance
We could see rays of sunlight
Peeping into the tunnel
Horror of tunnel ended, we came out
Our glorious train was dumped on a side track
Like a used, bony abandoned race horse on roadside
Or
Like a hulk permanently berthed
We were all tired and half dead
Struggling and crawling
We managed to come out of the coach
Interior of the coaches appeared
Like a battle field of lost war
We saw trains rushing towards the entrance
Of the tunnel like fast bullets
Will they also have our Titanic experience.