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EDWARD'S SONG
Jun. '62
Do you remember once asking "What ails'?
Well once I was fit, and travelled the rails;
Carried the papers, carried the mails;
I carried your kin-folk home to Wales,
Carried your mother, carried your daughter;
- Carried your men-folk away to slaughter-
I bought the news, be it good or bad,
Gave you my best, gave all that I had;
I sought no reward, accepted my lot,
In salt-laden air was I left to rot!
Mar. '73
Eleven long years, left to my shame
Forgotten, already rusting, lame;
Forgotten!
Forgiven!
Saved!
Oh my friend;
A home back in England, with hands to tend
To my rusty shell and broken limb;
Saved from the cutter, saved by a whim.
Apr. '89
Saved from the torch to ride out once again;
Fitted out, kitted out, given a train,
Returned to steam and made whole again,
I travel the rails, come sun or rain!
Remember you now, once asking 'What ails'?
Well now I am fit to ride o'er the rails.
The King has returned, back from the war,
The King has returned to serve once more!
Aug '92
With pressure raised, and a full head of steam,
I carry your kin-folks child-hood dream;
Carry the man, with memory long,
Carry the child, both old and young,
I carry your son, carry your daughter;
Breezing along: Steam: Oil: Water;
By silver rail, and cotton-wool cloud,
Resplendent in green, and steaming proud;
With a belly of fi 'ry red-hot coals,
The pound of my pistons, raising lost souls
Of the long dead men, who fired a dream.
And steam is dead?,
I say 'Long live steam!'
THE LINESMAN
THE ROUTE TO THE COAST
(A GWR Branch in Cornwall)
by 'Chalumeau'
Shining ribbons of steel to the distance curve,
There to meet in parallax.
Vapours seep from sleepers purg 'd
By the June sun, sear and brash.
Cuttings, tunnels and beds of ballast bear
Their iron way clandestine.
Signal arms outstretched in shimm 'ring air
Crash down. At last nears the time.
Clanking, panting machine the silence kills,
Steams to the ocean's meet,
Onward through softly sculpted hills.
Then butterflies dance in tarry heat.
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