"CHUFF! chuff! chuff!" An' a mountain bluff Is moved by the shovel's song; "Chuff! chuff! chuff!" Oh, the grade is rough A liftin' the landscape along! We are ants upon a mountain, but we're leavin' of our dent, An' our teeth-marks bitin' scenery they will show the way we went; We're a liftin' half creation, an' we're changin' it around, Just to suit our playful purpose when we're diggin' in the ground. "Chuff! chuff! chuff!" Oh, the grade is rough, An' the way to the sea is long; "Chuff! chuff! chuff!" an' the engines puff In tune to the shovel's song! We're a shiftin' miles like inches, and we grab a forest here Just to switch it over yonder so's to leave an angle clear; We're a pushin' leagues o' swamps aside so's we can hurry by -- An' if we had to do it we would probably switch the sky! "Chuff! chuff! chuff!" Oh, it's hard enough When you're changin' a job gone wrong; "Chuff! chuff! chuff!" an' there's no rebuff To the shovel a singin' its song! You hears it in the mornin' an' you hears it late at night -- It's our battery keepin' action with support o' dynamite; Oh, you gets it for your dinner, an' the scenery skips along In a movin' panorama to the chargin' shovel's song! "Chuff! chuff! chuff!" an' it grabs the scruff Of a hill an' boosts it along; "Chuff! chuff! chuff!" Oh, the grade is rough, But it gives to the shovel's song! This is a fight that's fightin', an' the battle's to the death; There ain't no stoppin' here to rest or even catch your breath; You ain't no noble hero, an' you leave no gallant name -- You're a fightin' Nature's army, an' it ain't no easy game! "Chuff! chuff! chuff!" Oh, the grade is rough, An' the way to the end is long, "Chuff! chuff! chuff!" an' the engines puff As we lift the landscape along! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PAST AND PRESENT by ROWLAND EYLES EGERTON-WARBURTON AULD ROBIN GRAY by ANNE LINDSAY THE PLEASURES OF IMAGINATION: BOOK 3 by MARK AKENSIDE THE BIRDS: THE HYMN OF THE BIRDS by ARISTOPHANES LINES WRITTEN IN LADY'S ALBUM OF DIFFERENT-COLOURED PAPER by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD |