Coal Trains Please Stay Away

Photo Credit: Paul K. Anderson, Chuckanut Conservancy

One hundred twenty-five

By my count pass.

Seventeen thousand tons

Of trouble and tremble.

Flanged wheels squeal

In protested mass

A dozen kilotons 

Of trundling coal

Shake our very core

And offend our soul.

More like a bomb than a boon

Each clack on track

A passage of time

Each revolution bringing

The fine dust of slow death

Clack, clack, and clack

Diesel streams in clouds

Of ecological ruin

Dressing us in cancer’s cowl.

Photo Credit: Paul K. Anderson, Chuckanut Conservancy

This cargo is carried

And in transit steals

Our dreams and pride.

Never sadder

The train blasts sound and sound.

Happiness and health

All carried away.

Greedy voices say

What we want to hear.

But how outside of addict’s logic

Are their profits worth

Our damaged young

And cast off old? 

So one in six

In pregnant state

Languish with a winged-footed

God of risk.

How comes that awful truth

with Mr. Peabody’s fat thumb

square on the scale?

Money weighs a logic

Out of balance with reality

With benefits for a few

And impacts spread cross

Time and territory.

The talk of taxes and jobs

Rings hollow per tradition

And practice. 

Nothing good for us comes

From this tired path

Except the pain we draw

Through simple error

And misplaced trust. 

So gather and make

A righteous stand

With neighbors and kindred souls

For this is far more about morals

Than money

And a bright future starts

With the first brave stance.

Let it be here and now.

--Bob Ferris 

Executive Director