We stand in the glow and the warmth
Sunlight and friendship
To gaze back upon the day
Of whistles in the gorge
And smoke in the aspen
Archbars sway gentle under foot
Staggered joints keeping time
A metronome of steel on steel
Glistening rail and flanged wheel
To the soul a melody
Crossties fade into oblivion
Each a moment
A milepost never lived again
Memories set in ballast and cinders
Left to weather and wither
Oh, how we wish to stop time
To grasp the morn and reel it back in
Each click
Each clack
Each tick of the Hamilton
To breathe in the day once more
All the grandeur
All the glory
And hold it just a little longer
The ache of melancholy
It is ripped from us
Spike by spike
Slipping
Oh, God!
Slipping away
Alas,
True is the mainspring
Movement jeweled and precise
The Inspector's card signed proper and dated
They’ll be no lagging behind the advertised
The Far-From-Here life clouds the skies
The Everyday
The Mundanery
The Rise-and-Shinery
“Next stop, Normal!”
The end is nigh
Across the sage and the grasses
On steel rails that shine
We head home on the valley
Trailing memories behind
