Subway to Nowhere

You climb the stairs
Looking for a sign
That will tell you
where to go
But you never find it

You retrace your steps
And realize it's cold
and you've left your jacket
Somewhere
And now you cannot go back
Because you don't know where

You come into a station
People mill about
A train comes screeching
around an impossible curve
the last car is blown open
like shrapnel from a bomb
You turn away
This is not the train
And no one gets on

You were looking for
The art museum
Somewhere in your mind
you know how to walk there
but now you're lost
You cannot go forward
You cannot go back

You stare into someone's face
And realize it is an old friend
from high school
But you ask his name and
he says something unintelligible

You are dreaming and
Awake in the dream
familiar subway sounds
Welcome to the subway to nowhere