Junction by Geoff Cook (From Swindon Advertiser)

Junction by Geoff Cook

9:38am Tuesday 3rd March 2009 in

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Above the dusty bridleway, where the ponies and their riders roam,
By the prickly sloe and quickthorn, where the rabbits make their warren home,
Now the track beds a wild life paradise, travellers joy gives the birds precious cover,
Old wooden bridge has now disappeared, that carried one set of rails over another.

Prospering mosses and spleenwort, bind the cracks in the lower platform wall,
Almost half a century since last visited, by humble saddle tank or grand hall,
Years have come and many have passed, since services were abolished,
Cabin, signal box and waiting room, have totally been demolished!

Midland trains bound for the south, and fast goods traversed the junction,
Until old Beeching brought the hatchet down, claiming there was no future function,
Great Western mainline passes close by, speeding commuters from city to city,
Diesels roll by with a throbbing cry, drowning out the songbirds’ melodic ditty.

Warm sheet of tin provides safety zone, for bronze slow worms and grey slugs,
A violet beetle, angry red ants, and a vast array of busy bugs,
Mistle thrush cracks a shell upon a rock for a meal of fresh escargot,
Studied from above by the circling form, of a jet black carrion crow,

125s pass by on embankment, thick with willow herb and thorns,
Drivers exchange their speedy greetings, upon their echoing two tone horns,
Dark bird of prey drifts by overhead, hoping to seize a tasty portion,
Sixty-six hauled freight is westward bound, passes an amber light with caution,

Spotted orchid and purple knapweed, among the grasses and invading creeper,
Pygmy shrew and enormous toad, lie low beneath a rotting sleeper,
Crane fly rests on a rambling rose, where small coppers and large whites meet,
Upper level platform lies in stark silence, no iron horses or tired waiting feet!