Classic Poem

I

With a scream of the whistle our farewell said,
And into the blackness of night we sped
On and on
To meet the dawn,
Under the sky where the stars burned red;
Past hills that stood where the snows were shed,
Ghostly-white as the shrouded dead;
On and on
To meet the dawn:
True hand at the throttle and hope ahead!
The steel rails ringing —
The swift wheels singing:
" To kith and kin, O hearts that roam —
In vine-wreathed cot, and marble dome,
Over the world we bear you home!

II

Whirled through the dark where the black steed drives
Are joys and sorrows of human lives;
Laughing and weeping,
And children sleeping
On the breasts of glad mothers; and wistful wives;
The clank of chains and the grip of gyves!
On and on
To meet the dawn
Where Light the soul of the Darkness shrives!
The steel rails ringing —
The mad wheels singing:
" To gloom or gladness, O hearts that roam —
To darkened dwelling or marble dome
Over the world we bear you home! "

III

There are hearts that listen with hope and fear
For the signal shrill of the engineer:
That throb and thrill,
At that signal shrill:
Does it bring them the rose or the rue to wear?
The song, the sigh, or the burning tear?
On and on
To meet the dawn —
The black night dies, and the hills stand clear!
" What are you bringing,
O swift wheels singing —
To daisied meadow and dew-sweet loam? "
" The hearts that hunger — the hearts that roam —
Over the world we bear them home! "

IV

Old friends, old loves, in a rapture wild —
Kiss of the mother and clasp of the child:
The night is gone —
We have met the dawn;
Never so gladly the sweet sun smiled!
Never the spirit of Night beguiled
The hand so true,
That the throttle knew —
Bearing the burden of mother and child
On and on
To the joy o' the dawn!
With ever that song to the hearts that roam —
" To vine-wreathed cot and marble dome
Over the world we bear you home! "