Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow:
A Song For Lost Friends
The past is always with us, for it feeds the present
As a boy, I stood on the edge of the railway-cutting,
Outside the dark tunnel, my hands touching
The hot rails, waiting for them to tremble
At the coming of the noonday trains.
The whistle of the engine hung on the forest’s silence
Then out of the tunnel, a green-gold dragon
Came plunging, thundering past —
Out of the tunnel, out of the grinning dark.
And the train rolled on, every day
Hundreds of people coming or going or running away –
Goodbye, goodbye!
I haven’t seen you again, the bright boy at the carriage window
Waving to me, calling,
But I’ve loved you all these years and looked for you everywhere,
In cities and villages, beside the sea,
In the mountains, in crowds at distant places;
Returning always to the forest’s silence,
To watch the windows of some passing train…
(a) Where was the boy standing?
(b) Why did the hot railings tremble?
(c) Describe the train’s journey.
(d) Where has the poet been looking for his friends?
Ans. (a) He was standing on the railway line outside the dark tunnel.
(b) It trembled due to the vibrations caused by the noonday train.
(c) Its whistle hung on the silence of the forest. It came out thundering and plunging out of the tunnel.
(d) In cities, villages, beside the sea, mountains and in crowds at distant places.
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