The Engine

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Into the gloom of the deep, dark night,
   With panting breath and a startled scream;
Swift as a bird in sudden flight
  Darts this creature of steel and steam.

Awful dangers are lurking nigh,
   Rocks and chasms are near the track,
But straight by the light of its great white eye
   It speeds through the shadows, dense and black.

Terrible thoughts and fierce desires
   Trouble its mad heart many an hour,
Where burn and smoulder the hidden fires,
   Coupled ever with might and power.

It hates, as a wild horse hates the rein,
   The narrow track by vale and hill;
And shrieks with a cry of startled pain,
   And longs to follow its own wild will.

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