The Long Shadow

It could be said that misery lives in the moment, but lingers in the moment's long shadow.  

Blacktail Viaduct, MP 1510

It's not hard to look at the stately symmetry of the Milwaukee's trestle at Blacktail and wait, expectantly, for Boxcabs to grind across it on their way up the hill to Pipestone.  Or perhaps sets of SD40s working hard to handle increased traffic from the BN Merger's opened gateways.  


The opened gateways of 1970 provided a reason to hope,  hence the misery is not just the collapse and removal of America's final transcon, but the failed promise that seemed ever so close.  C.S. Lewis penned that "part of misery is .. the miser's shadow or reflection. [1]"  Blacktail casts a long shadow.

Reference:
1)  CS Lewis, “A Grief Observed”

Comments

Evan said…
Leland,
I've been keeping up with your posts and still enjoy them. I noted the quote from "A Grief Observed". I just read through that again a couple of weeks ago. I have been grateful that C.S Lewis was willing to wrestle with, and journal the realities of grief. I am equally glad your blog explores the fading impressions of the Milwaukee's passing. Though it is not really that far away in time's continuum, I recognize the irretrievable nature of what is past, even when its scars can plainly be seen.

- Evan
9/13/2019 07:47:00 PM
SDP45 said…
Leland,
Your posts are consistently evocative. Thanks for sharing.

Dan
10/24/2019 07:56:00 PM
Michael Sol said…
The words are from Wordsworth, and relates to the Fall of the Venetian Republic, but they work here.

"And what if she had seen those glories fade,
Those titles vanish, and that strength decay;
Yet shall some tribute of regret be paid
When her long life hath reached its final day:
Men are we, and must grieve when even the Shade
Of that which once was great is passed away."

-- Michael Sol
12/26/2019 08:18:00 AM
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