I realized reading through the #QuakerBuses tweets that I had long ago likened Quaker Meeting for Worship (aka "church") to being on the subway. This is a poem I wrote in 1997 called "Subterranean."
subterranean
I take the subway to church
Sharing this unguarded early Sunday space
With others seeking their own destinations
Their own agendas
Who can say what confluence of forces
Have brought us together to this placeless place
To clatter through the silence of the earth?
What brings any strangers together?
I see my church as fellow travelers
Who share a journey into mystery
Who burrow through the spirit
Knowing there are spires and mighty edifices
That rise beyond the surface.
We sense the surging power
Of this engine that taps into a crackling energy
Propels us along the same trajectory
And periodically stops
When a voice announces
Where we are
Where we are going
In darkness
Catching only strips and patches of light
Moving.
[IMAGE: CC-licensed photo "NYC Subway E Train" by NYC Urban Scape]