Subway 166th Street

Subway 116^th street      Susan Green

Approaching A Hundred and Sixteenth Street
There were not too many people in the subway car,

But those who were, were intrigued with their -

Oh, Such smart phones,
Playing games or reading texts... or......whatever. 

A woman with a baby stroller

Stood at the door, waiting.

Nobody saw - 

All eyes looking downward
Playing games, typing texts,

As the doors opened and she began to

Push the stroller through.

But - 

The wheels must have stuck 

Between the train and the platform

Because she pushed and pulled, tried to lift it,

But it would not stir

As the doors began to close.

All eyes looking down, playing games, making calls.

I was so far away, at the end of the car -
But I started to rise, to call, 
Knowing I would be too late, 

When 
Two men sprang.

They held the doors, pushed them back,

Straining against machinery of automation.

The doors already touching the stroller’s sides, crushing,

They muscled them open,

Red in the face, bodies angled

Until the doors reacted and let the stroller

Free.

One of them lifted it over the space

Between the car and the platform.

And the woman with the hijab pushed her stroller on,

Disappearing, melding into the crowds.

The two men sat down again -
Not a word -

And went back to their separate lives.

The train rattled on

 To A Hundred and Twenty Fifth Street

And still, almost all eyes were

Looking down; texting, calling, playing games.