Texas Trilogy: Train Ride

Well, the last time I remember

That train stopping at the depot

Was when me and my Aunt Veta

Came riding back from Waco

I remember I was wearing

My long pants and we was sharing

Conversation with a man

Who sold ball-point pens and paper

And the train stopped once in Clifton

Where my Aunt bought me some ice cream

And my Mom was there to meet us

When the train pulled into Kopperl

But now kids at night break window lights

And the sound of trains only remains

In the memory of the ones like me

Who have turned their backs on the splintered cracks

In the walls that stand on the railroad land

Where we used to play and then run away

From the depot man

I remember me and brother

Used to run down to the depot

Just to listen to the whistle

When the train pulled into Kopperl

And the engine big and shiny

Black as coal that fed the fire

And the engineer would smile and say,

"Howdy, how ya fellows?"

And the people by the windows

Playing cards and reading papers

Looked as far away to us

As next summer's school vacation