Left There Scratching My Chin

Railroad tracks
Running out back
Shaking and shimmying
Beneath the racing train.
My house quakes and quivers
Some as I watch
The train running
East to west or
West to east and
Then back again.
They seem to go faster
And seem to be longer
Than the ones I remember
As a boy counting the cars,
Wondering how far
They would take me away one day.
In the sudden stillness after they're gone,
I'm left there scratching my chin
And trying to recall;
When did they stop
Putting cabooses on the
Ends of these things?