SAFE and snug in the sleeping-car Are father and mother and sleeping child; The night outside shows never a star, For the storm is thick and the wind is wild. The frenzied train in its all-night race Holds many a soul in its fragile walls, While in his cab, with a smoke-stained face, Is the man in the greasy overalls. Through the firebox door the heat glows white, The steam is hissing at all the cocks; The pistons dance and the drivewheels smite The trembling rails till the whole earth rocks. But never a searching eye could trace — Though the night is black and the speed appals — A line of fear in the smoke-stained face Of the man in the greasy overalls. No halting, wavering coward he, As he lashes his engines around the curve, But a peace-encompassed Grant or Lee, With a heart of oak and an iron nerve. And so I ask that you make a place In the Temple of Heroes' sacred halls Where I may hang the smoke-stained face Of the man in the greasy overalls. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MOTLEY: MUSIC by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE MY SHADOW by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON THE WINDS OF FATE by ELLA WHEELER WILCOX PORTRAIT BY PICHER by FRANCES BAKER ZERO by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN THEODORE ROOSEVELT by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE |