Thundering Along
the Train Tracks
Autumn – Winter
/20-21
Chapter l

Why Will It All Be This Way?

An old steam engine whistles and slowly begins to move
along rusty tracks that have seen far too much.
A gentle breeze brushes my hair, and my hand unconsciously
clings tighter to the metal railing of the carriage.

“Good heavens,” my overheated thoughts stir inside,
“I’ve seen and experienced so much,
but standing at the front of a thundering train? Never.”

The engine starts to pick up speed, the wind grows stronger in my hair,
and as I inhale deeply, I want to shout louder than the train:
“Oh, life, you never cease to amaze.”

When I start assembling a collection, I almost never know
where we will photograph it.
What kind of surroundings it will have.
Which colors will dominate.
Will it be hot or cold? Will it drizzle, or will the late-July sun scorch?

I lay out the clothes like a puzzle, following the desires of my heart
and the bubbling feelings inside me.
And I wait for that blessed day,
when the knowledge that our baby, cradled in our arms for half a year,
will finally be captured.

Autumn–Winter—our largest and most serious collection of the year.
Clothes that breathe the return to work, to offices,
carefully considered, how they can be layered
and still pass the guaranteed “easy mornings” test.

The passing scenery, as I stand for the first time
at the front of an old steam engine,
unintentionally tickles a feeling inside me:
that I am leaving for autumn,
a season I generally do not like.

Knowing that in my “luggage” I carry
“easy mornings” and my beloved layering,
I hold tighter to the railing of the train thundering over the tracks
and feel happiness, calm, and certainty
wash over me with the wind.

Autumn will be beautiful.

V.