"Night Train to Valhalla"
The troubled teenagers sat uneasy in their chairs
looking down at the ground…
Not one of them wanted to stare
at the person stood before them
Not one of them made a sound
What could he tell them
that they hadn’t already been told?
But sit they did,
even raised their heads
and eventually
witnessed the magic unfold…
Do you like stories?
he began
Do you?
Do you like tales of hope and glory?
Then lend me your ears
and open your hearts and your minds
and you will find that there is magic all around
Seek and ye shall find…
Make yourselves comfortable
I’m about to start
My name is not important
Though I do play a part
in this fable
All you need to know is that I drive the train
The night train
The night train to Valhalla…
Let me tell you a story about a lost girl
Her name was Lyric Storm
and it fit her like a glove
Her life was a concerto of disillusionment
A maelstrom of unrequited love
and unrealised dreams
Music had been her salvation,
at least in the beginning
But before too long
she found herself swimming
in a pool of unworthiness,
drowning in her moments of mediocrity…
She was fragile, and broken
like a fine china teacup
One that no amount of glue
or disingenuous goodwill
was ever going to stick back together again
It would hold her together for only so long
before the cracks would reappear
becoming scars of desolation
etched into her skin
during moments of frustration
that coiled around her
like a razor wire strait jacket
She would carve tic-tac-toe grids into her arms
with a rusty razor blade
because she said that she felt like a nought,
like a zero,
like a nothing
She didn’t need a hero
She just needed someone to believe in her
That’s where I came in
October 31st, 23.59
She stood on a railway platform
staring down the line
waiting for any train to roll in
so that she could check out
There would be no drama
No need to shout
She never saw me coming…
My train that is governed by no timetable
and by no physical laws
rolled along the tracks as silently as the voice
of every bullied child,
every victim of domestic violence,
and every downtrodden minority group
that screams silently into the deaf ears
of those who won’t listen
and came to rest alongside her…
I opened the doors, and sensing something that she could not
comprehend
she stepped on board, and became a
Legend
You are the strays
You are the lost
Tossed
away by society
Discarded like fast food wrappers
Together you are legion…
She stepped on board defeated
and stepped off a champion…
On board, she stared at the windows
But the windows were not windows
They were T.V. screens
Each one playing scenes
of strife
in a montage of melancholy
that she called life…
Scenes from a play, wrote by her hand
and wrought from each and every breath that she had taken
while trying to understand
and comprehend her place in the scheme of things…
So many dreams un fulfilled
So many nightmares to endure
Idle promises
dangled like a lure
in her path
the aftermath of which
slapped her in the face
like toxic waste
But where others saw a waste of time
I saw potential
and I showed her images
of what she could achieve
Wonders await those who believe
in themselves…
And when the screens fell silent
you could have heard a pin drop
and if your hearing had been fine-tuned enough
you would have heard the rustle of hairs
on the back of her neck
You would have heard the goose bumps breaking out
on her flesh
So I stand here in front of you
and offer you that same glimmer
of hope
Shimmer like a firefly
amidst a night of darkest, bitter treacle
Know that you have no equal
Your time of languishing in the shadows has ceased
Let the magic inside of you
be released
Shine with the luminosity
of a Supernova
Explode with the ferocity
of a Tsunami
Allow it to wash away all your doubt
Shout
from the rooftops
“This is my time”
“This is my design”
Do not be denied your time in the limelight
Fight for your place in the world
This is your birth-right
So make a stand
and protest at the gates of injustice
until they succumb
like the walls of Jericho
to the fanfare of the common man…
So arise
like the warriors that you were born to be
This is not about them
This is not about me
This is about you…
So rise
Rise and shine like the champions that you are
Because you are GOLD
Copyright Ryan Woods 06/06/2016