---
title: "Perspective"
url: "https://ruthocallaghan.com/poems/perspective"
updated: 2026-10-12
description: "\"Perspective\", a poem by Ruth O'Callaghan from An Unfinished Sufficiency."
---

# Perspective

It is February. From the tracks beyond the cemetery\
the last train defies the dark, defies the dark

beyond the cemetery. It is February. Onto the tracks\
a body may fall, fall from the bridge

the bridge that springs over the tracks, the tracks\
on which a body may span, horizontal

east to west or west to east, never north to south\
south to north. Horizontal.

Too late, too late to grind the brakes, the brakes\
too late if a body breaks on the tracks.

The woman at the window sees the man on the bridge\
to the man on the bridge the woman at the window cries _Wait_.

Spanning the tracks that the driver can see\
but not a body spanning the tracks

there is no body spanning the tracks as he moves on,\
moves on defying the dark

beyond the cemetery. It is February. The rails are sharp\
the night is clear, he is on time.

The driver’s on time. All is ordered in this dark. He’s taken advice.\
He can implement procedures. Procedures.

Vera climbs the stairs of the bridge, sees the man on the bridge\
hears the cry of the woman at the window but not the word. She is alone.

He cuts a swathe towards the tunnel. He is on time\
he is a man who defies the dark

he is a man moving on, moving on through the night\
the night is ordered, he is ordered

the driver’s on time. He’s taken advice. He keeps his hand\
he stays his hand, he can implement…

The boy sleeping under the bridge hears slippers shuffling the bridge\
hears a woman’s cry. He doesn’t move. It could be a ploy.

Procedures. He knows procedures. He knows this track.\
He knows the exact, the exact point

to release, to release pressure. The driver’s taken advice.\
The air is clear. The rails are sharp. He is a man defying the dark.

The man on the bridge hears the train on the track, hears a voice calling, footsteps\
dragging. He turns. She is cardigan-ed not white-coated. _Disguised._

It is February. The air is clear. They are beyond the cemetery.\
Beyond fear. The fear on the face of the man in the train of the man in the air.

_From An Unfinished Sufficiency (Salmon Poetry, 2015)_