Whispers From The Engineer

It was a train ride and I held the brakes                     

I turned the nozzle, I scoped the lines                                   

I turned the curves and pounded time                                   

As we shuttled past the railroad stakes                     

The engine ground, the piston pined

And whined within its steely gates

I counted stocky wind-turbines

Flailing at us from a ways away

I shut an eye, the other fluttered

Signs were bland and very vague

Little ladies talked and tittered

Men read pamphlets children played

Droning, droning ever forward

In the milky, sleepy dull

The coals cried dry and wispy whimpers

In the cistern’s muggy lull

I watched a light show from my window

It was the train light’s flashing X’s

I was dazzled then my vexes

Faded black and faded slow

I went where most people go

I didn’t know anything anymore

But they did, all the rest on board

They saw us heading past the shore

We danced on tight ropes not ballast

I knew nothing of our waltz

I tell you it was not my fault!

I was not conscious of our stance

I felt a rush that woke me up

A siren squealed and jarred me

My heart burned hot, my blood caught fire

I cast the light upon the water

  

I could see the end I could hear them wail

They clutched their children by them

They prayed to God to save their lives,

I prayed to God He’d hear them

The water caught us, cold and fast

We stayed afloat on perilous pillows

We were blindfolded under steaming billows

And sunk into the watery pasture

Pleas and calls drowned out forever

They departed to eternal stations

Save me, I was carried on the waters

By a Hand with expectations

Where the locomotive sank

I now return to squat

Bowing towards the wreckage,

Stooping on the dock

Whispering rueful sentiments

Mixing my tears with the ocean’s salt

They’ll not hear but I wish to tell them “Sorry”

For, in truth, it was my fault