Classic and Contemporary Poetry
GOODS TRAIN AT NIGHT, by KENNETH H. ASHLEY First Line: The station is empty and desolate Last Line: A dull little grief for humanity. Subject(s): Railroads; Railways; Trains | ||||||||
THE station is empty and desolate; A sick lamp wanly glows; Slowly puffs a goods engine, Slow yet alive with great energy; Drawing rumbling truck After rumbling, rumbling truck; Big, half-seen, insensate. Yet each as it jolts through the glow Responds to the questioning light Dumbly revealing Diverse personality: "Neal & Co."; "John Bugsworth"; "Norland Collieries Limited"; "Jolly & Sons"; "Jolly & Sons"; "Jolly & Sons"; Thrice repeated, percussive, insistent Each wet wall-side successively announcing Names: badges and symbols of men, Of men in their intricate trafficking But there quickens a deeper emotion, Roused by the iterant names, Beyond the mere intricate commerce, The infinite wonder of life. Effort and hope and love, the heart's desire, Leap in the womb of the brain As the trucks clang their way through the night. Slides by the guard's van at the last, With a last definite clatter of steel upon steel And a glitter of ruby-red light. So: silence recaptures the station; The damp steam eddies out; The drizzle weaves a silver pattern, An endless shining silver pattern, A silver woof in the lamplight. And I find myself full of a grief A dull little grief for humanity. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE RAILWAY by ARTHUR CHRISTOPHER BENSON WHAT WE DID TO WHAT WE WERE by PHILIP LEVINE BURYING GROUND BY THE TIES by ARCHIBALD MACLEISH WAY-STATION by ARCHIBALD MACLEISH TWILIGHT TRAIN by EILEEN MYLES THE CAVEMAN ON THE TRAIN by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS |
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