when the trains slow down

Guy in a crown and gym shoes

Says, “I just got married… or maybe divorced”

He’s eating cake from a plastic bag

Gives me a piece, I don’t ask, of course

No announcements, just the squeal

Of metal turning soft

Somebody hums an old TV theme

Like it’s church, and we’re all lost

Everyone’s eyes like scratched-up film

Everything’s off but weirdly still

When the trains slow down

When the trains slow down

The air gets thick and time gets thin

When the trains slow down

A kid’s asleep with keys in his fist

Shoes off, hoodie pulled tight

Two girls are dancing with no music

They whisper like the car’s too bright

One guy’s staring straight at the map

Hasn’t blinked in twenty stops

I see myself in the window glass

Look away before it talks

Gravity shifts, the lights buzz blue

You feel alone, but something sees you

When the trains slow down

When the trains slow down

Faces blur and silence shouts

When the trains slow down

All of us drifting, no one admits it

The train breathes once

And nobody quits it

When the trains slow down

When the trains slow down

City holds its breath in the underground

When the trains slow down

When the trains slow down

When the trains slow down

When the trains slow down

City holds its breath in the underground

When the trains slow down

When the trains slow down