Tokyo Tube Train

The sounds of Tokyo began to surround me,
I heard the noises of daily living, daily rituals, greetings and passing comments,
The bustle of Japanese metropolitan life,
Suddenly, I was standing bolt upright in a tube station waiting for a train,
As it approached, the pressure increased dramatically around me and the train didn’t appear like it was going to stop,
Instead, it sped through the station and I heard, not the noise of the train but only the sounds from inside it,
All daily life in a typical 24 hours in Tokyo was contained and compressed into this one train,
Adults were eating their breakfast in the morning, working in offices,
Children were playing with their toys and climbing on frames,
People were spending hours bustling around streets before relaxing in the comfort of their homes,
Then they were sleeping and a soft silence filled the platform,
The station was full of dreams.