Trains and Boats and Planes

The speaker watches trains, boats, and planes carry people on journeys, but for them these vehicles represent separation rather than adventure. A loved one has gone away, and the speaker remains behind, waiting for their promised return. The feeling moves from recalling a happy, hopeful relationship to loneliness, then to a fragile hope that the person may come home.

The vehicles are repeated images of distance and departure: they take the loved one away and make the separation visible whenever they pass. “A star to wish upon” suggests that the couple once shared hopeful dreams, while “dreams come true, but not for me” expresses the speaker’s disappointment. The wish that a prayer might “cross the sea” gives hope a physical image, as if it could travel across the same distance as the person.

The ending sounds hopeful, but it does not confirm that the loved one will return. The speaker may be expressing faith, comforting themselves, or simply longing for what they cannot control. “Away for a while” leaves open whether the separation is temporary, yet the repeated waiting makes the uncertainty feel painful.