At the railway crossing
I see a boy on the rails
Heat waves shimmer
He picks up a handful of gravel
and lets it fall down
The movement in his hands
Further away a girl is on the crossties
Her brown hair tight over the scalp
A German Shepherd grunts and whimpers
pounds his head against her thigh
The lock is jammed in the car door
Everything is buried
in a gust of wind
a howl
Afterwards they are gone
I start the engine
The signal light turns white
When I pass
I see only tracks