By Sara Vokes
The windows were open, and a pleasant breeze entered our house; The kind of breeze that moves your curtains a little. The sun had just slipped down behind the hills looking west across the valley and the birds were calling for darkness. I could hear crickets and the chimes from my front yard gently ringing. A neighbor’s dog barked (such a good dog) and a car went past our house. I could hear them talking and I could hear their music. It wasn’t loud, just…floating across the yard and into our living room. I thought “Oh! Do I know that song?” And I smiled because there was music all around.
It was then that I heard a sound that pulled me to it: I heard the train coming.
The train tracks run right by the Housatonic River in the valley below. The sound is a low rumbling sound, rhythmic and constant, percussion, like drums. I stopped and listened, and the conductor blew the train horn, and I thought I heard: D# – F# – A# – C and D#. I got up and went to piano to match the pitches…but by then the notes were lower. The train was further north in the valley heading to Massachusetts and the sound waves were farther away.
The memory was intangible, yet it was real so I lived there for a moment. Just breathing as I stretched my hearing to say goodbye to the train traveling farther and farther away.
Bird song. Crickets. A soft breeze through bells. My cat purring. A neighbor’s dog barking. A song from a passing car and their voices speaking. And the train. All are music to our ears.
I went to sleep with this music in my mind and yet I didn’t listen to a song at all.
Our world is busy. We are busy. Take time. Turn off your devices and just…listen. There’s music all around you.
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Sound file title: Train Horn B Major 7 chord
https://meetinghouse.life/train-video-mp4/
