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[saadat tahir]

Lines to nowhere …..2102– 2012 Dedicated to SAL on his birthday)(A historic train ride from Istanbul toMakkah, via Petra*and Madaih Saleh*-The Hijaz Rail*) Chug chug tracks along varied hutShovel up coal and clank it shut Crank it up and build up steam Polish up mirrors for far out beam well healed served caviar creams In lesser coach but distant dreams Far off puff of incoming clang Clickety click and muffled bang Clarion shriek along many a scapes That Lawrence*wrecked with his apes Chug chug tracks along varied hutShovel up coal and clank it shut winding through the human crib* the land of Prophets* without a fib rivers and seas that swallow or float* by pastures green and bleating goat Whistling over the sandy dune towering cliffs that’re craggy hewn megaliths alone, clustered rocks puffing away with her steamy frocks Chug chug tracks along varied hutShovel up coal and clank it shut Historic cost of blown up line Rusting hulks once mirrored shine Rotting planks on mangled rails Held together by crumbling nails jut pared lines in gaping holes Shade and shelter to desert voles An eerie calm in blowing sand distant pomp of military band Chug chug tracks along varied hutShovel up coal and clank it shut Soiled in strife a marvel fades Felled prey of marauding raids pleasing rides to shuttered coach breezy days to cloistered roach How hush and death now scattered lie to glorious days a painful bye Paneled walls are blown out holes As time cavorts like tender foals originalsaadat tahir2102 - 2012Islamabad. Also an epitaph to theOttoman “Hijaz Rail” laid from Damascus to the holy Muslim sites1900-1908…the First World War truncated the effort and the rail ended in MedinaMunawwara, where the loco-sheds/railway station (walled off from the world) anda Turkish mosque still stand in mute testimony to the monumental effort. For acentury now a huge swath of Muslims undergo countless suffering,grapple with buses and ferries to reach the holy sites for Umra and Hajj.There is now earnest talk of work starting on a parallel project.

http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/europe/2699-turkey-begins-work-on-a-project-to-link-istanbul-and-mecca-by-express-trainhttp://olbigjimsplace.blogspot.com/2011/10/jordan-hejaz-railway.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hejaz_Railway