Walking With Poetry : Part 1

The train to Halma was slow. As slow as it had always been for the past seventy years.
Narrow gauge mountain tracks, with hundreds of hairpin bends, spectacularly high bridges and long dark tunnels, breathtaking down hills and groaning up hills, were decidedly not suitable for high travel speeds.
In the valley areas, workers in colourful clothing could be seen working in the wheat fields. When one opened the windows and leant out one could hear them singing.
I've often wondered whether there was a more beautiful sound, this side of heaven, than the singing of these field workers.

It was after passing through one of the longer tunnels that I spoke to her. She was about twenty five I thought. Good looking but not quite a Miss Universe. Perhaps it was a slight downturn of the edges of her lips that would make her lose a few beauty points. I, however, found it very attractive.
She was wearing blue jeans, a blue T-shirt and an elaborately embroidered red waist coat.

I leant forward.
"Hi. I couldn't help noticing. You seemed to be a little concerned. Is it the tunnels that worry you? Please don't be concerened by them. They're very safe you know. There hasn't been an accident in all of their seventy five years."
She looked at me warily  for a while and then reluctantly accepting my re-assurance, nodded her head a few times. As she turned her head away I began to speak.
"I'm on my way to be with my mother. It's this Mother's day thing you know. And it's also her 48th birthday."

When she looked at me again, I saw that her initial disdain had somehow faded and she had begun to kind of acknowledge my presence. She seemed to reason that if I had a mother then I could not be all that bad. Anyway, I felt that a barrier had been removed.
"What's your name? Mine's Dinel."
"Mine's Alisha.'
"Wow, that's such a poetic name. Where are you going to?"
"Where do you think. Dinel? So where's this train going? To Halma, of course."
"Hey that's good. That's where my mother lives. Well, quite nearby."

I smiled. As time went by, her defensiveness began to diminish a little. Not much but enough to be noticeable.
"So you're going to the Mountain Mist New Age Poetry School?"
She lwas a little startled but then looked at me with increased interest.
"Yes. How come you know about it?"
"So you're going to do modern poetry?"
"Yes, I am. Why are you asking me this?"
"Hmmm. Well it's this, I teach poetry."
Her eyes had begun to sparkle but there were overtones of disbelif.
"You...you...teach? Do you? Where? At the school?"
"No no. Not at the school. I teach a different kind of poetry. Not at a school."
"What kind of..."

At that moment, the train began to slow down. It had come to a watering station for the locomotive. Here the passengers were allowed to disembark for about 15 minutes.
I looked outside, then at her and then rose to my feet while grabbing both our backpacks.
"Come let's go outside. I'll take these with me to make sure that no one steals them. Ok?"
She gave me a quick quizzical look and asked "are you sure?"
When I nodded, she shrugged her shoulders and got ready to leave.

We climbed down the carriage steps and then walked away from the track to look at what appeared to be the most beautiful forest on earth. In fact, I had always thought of this place as being the nearest that one could get to paradise on earth.
I had always felt compelled to enter that forest and somehow I knew that she felt that force too.
"Dinel...do you think that we could just take a short walk down this path?"
"Yes Alisha. We could. There's time enough. Come then. Let's go."

Her tiny frown showed some concern.
"Please Dinel. Do me a favour. Keep your eye on the time, will you?"
"It's OK. Don't worry about that."

As we walked alongside a small cliff, I suddenly feigned a stumble and during a wild imaginative show of waving hands and shuffling feet, I dropped our two back packs down the slope,
She looked at me aghast.
"You blood idiotic fool. Look at that. What have you done? Have you gone totally crazy?"
I looked at her adopting what I imagined to be my most apologetic look.
"Oh Alisha. What a fool I am. I stumbled. I'm so sorry."
"So what are you going to do about it?"
"Wait here. I'm going down. I'll get them. Just don't get upset. Please I beg you."
I slid, jumped, hopped and then even rolled a little down the hillside until I was able, with a shout of triumph, to hold up the two back packs.

She stood looking at me with clenched teeth and anger in her eyes.
"Come on, come on. Don't just stand there. Come up here."
Shouting "yes, I'm coming" I scrambled valiantly up the steep slope.
Near the top, I made as if I had tripped and shouted loudly as I gave a dramatic show of mock pain.

As I heard her scream "for Pete's sake hurry, damn you", I heard the locomotive give it's warning toot and a few minutes later heard the initial puffs as the train began pull out of the station.
I implored Alisha to give me her hand and help me up. I could see all the signs of her wrestling with an inner dilemna. She looked at the departing train and then at me and then back at the train. Finally. with a look that could kill and with obvious sesentment, she went down on one knee, reached out towards me and grabbed my hand.
To her astonishment and frustration, I then, with great agility and without any sign of discomfort, bounded up the remaining few steps and went to stand next to her. When she totally ignored my "thank you" we both stood looking silently at the last signs of chimney smoke as the train disappeared around the first bend.

Even then she kept on staring for what seemed an age before she turned to me. Her fists were tightly clenched as if she wanted to pound my chest. She had only one word for me.
"Why?"
I really had no reply. I mean not one that would have satisfied her. So I shrugged my shoulders. A French phrase came to mind.
"Cest la vie?"
Of course that was the most completely the wrong thing to say. She stepped towards me with both of her fists still clenched and raised high.
"You damn bastard. You dog. What the hell have you done? Why why why???"

She looked as if she was ready to rain blows down on me. At the same time I could see the signs of tears of frustration in her eyes.
I held up my hands. My heart was going out to her. I knew that I wouldn't be able to pacify her but I did try to allay her anger with a faint smile.
"Please Alisha. There's a simple explanation. Just give me a moment. I'll tell you the whole story."

She looked at me as if she had turned into a cobra ready to strike.
"Shove your explanation. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear anything that you have to say. Give me my back pack at once. I'm going to wait for the next train."
I looked at her and spoke with a genuine sadness in my voice.
"I'm sorry Alisha. The next train is only due in three days' time."