Offering

She walks down the track

in a black dress

early on a Sunday afternoon,

with an ice cream bar in one hand

and her shoes in the other;

the dogs don't bark.

no dogs will bark.

they are silent.

She walks down the track

in a black dress

with her smoky hair

where the locomotives used to split the hills,

and the coal underground still burns.

it only takes a spark.

a tiny little spark

starts the smoldering.

She walks down the track

in a black dress

with a dusky dog

close and silent at her side;

there are mounds here that hold

her mother and her mother going back.

let her walk by.

just let her pass by.

to live, lay your heart

at her feet, like silver track.

_________

to get to Moundsville, just follow the old Baltimore & Ohio tracks.