«HOURS» – Reviewed
Francisco Bravo Cabrera
Hours filled with thoughts roll before me…
I’m dreaming of traveling north,
as I watch silver trains roll on by me,
floating like ghostly silver smoke.
But this stale, clingy south surrounds me like flowers,
…
You may find the rest of the poem here.
#poem, “HOURS”
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Analysis
“HOURS” captures the feeling of being caught between two places—physically in one but mentally reaching for another. The speaker isn’t just waiting for time to pass; they are actively imagining something different, but without taking action. The poem moves in the same way thoughts do—drifting, circling back, blending reality with imagination. It doesn’t follow a rigid structure but mirrors the wandering nature of daydreaming, where small moments turn into something bigger, and reality shifts into something more uncertain.
The poem starts with time slipping away. “Hours filled with thoughts roll before me…” sets the stage for a drifting, passive experience. The speaker isn’t moving, but their mind is. The hours don’t feel meaningful; they just pass, filled with thoughts instead of action. This sense of inaction is reinforced by the next few lines, where the speaker dreams of traveling north while watching silver trains roll by. The trains become a symbol of escape, but they are not solid or tangible. They “float like ghostly silver smoke,” making them seem distant, unreachable, almost unreal. They exist in a space between reality and imagination, just like the speaker.
The contrast between north and south adds to the tension in the poem. The north represents movement, possibility, something unknown but desirable. It’s a place the speaker longs for but hasn’t reached. The south, on the other hand, is familiar and comforting but also confining. “This stale, clingy south surrounds me like flowers.” The flowers are bright and present, suggesting beauty, but they also hold the speaker in place. “Trying to provoke me to stay and to keep me” makes it clear that the speaker feels tied to where they are, even as they dream of leaving. This reflects the nature of daydreaming—there is always something pulling a person back to reality, some reason not to leave just yet.
Sitting in the street is a key moment. “So I sit in the street where my hope is my chance.” The street is neither here nor there—it’s not home, but it’s not a destination either. It’s a place where the speaker is caught between wanting change and staying still. Sitting and thinking becomes its own kind of journey. The speaker isn’t running toward something, but they also aren’t giving up. They are in an in-between space, watching, waiting, imagining.
As the poem moves forward, the imagery shifts. The speaker begins to “float in the smoke” and “run through wind.” These aren’t physical actions; they are part of the daydream. The real world and the imagined one blur together, just like in deep thought. The speaker is no longer just watching the trains or sitting in the street—they are inside their imagination, moving without moving, escaping without actually leaving.
The final lines bring the poem full circle. “And my thoughts roll before me, and the hours fill my mind.” Time continues passing, thoughts continue drifting, but nothing actually changes. This is what makes the poem feel so real. Daydreaming doesn’t always lead to action. Sometimes, it’s just a cycle of wanting, picturing, and returning to the same place. The trains will keep rolling by, the flowers will keep surrounding the speaker, and the feeling of being caught between two places will remain.
“HOURS” captures the way thoughts pull in different directions, how imagination can feel real for a moment but never quite lasts. The poem doesn’t push for resolution or transformation. It just sits in the experience of waiting and thinking, where time moves forward, but everything else stays the same.
Photo by Roland Lösslein on Unsplash
