 | Poems |  |
292
ON THE TRACK.
I walk the track with doubtful mind,
I look before me and behind:
A moment since the thundering train
Sped o'er it and was gone again.
I look before me and behind:
A moment since the thundering train
Sped o'er it and was gone again.
Now as I tread with wary feet
The path it passed, a terror fleet
I think of all that might have been
Did not that moment intervene.
The path it passed, a terror fleet
I think of all that might have been
Did not that moment intervene.
The sudden dread, the haste to fly,
The hopeless look at yon blue sky,
The stumbling foot, the helpless fall,
A crash, a quiver; that were all.
The hopeless look at yon blue sky,
The stumbling foot, the helpless fall,
A crash, a quiver; that were all.
My soul recoils, my flesh is faint,
With horror language dare not paint:
Nor looking on, nor looking back,
I hasten from that fearful track.
With horror language dare not paint:
Nor looking on, nor looking back,
I hasten from that fearful track.
Yet when I sit alone and think
How near I stood to danger's brink;
Some mocking spirit seems to say,—
“Where art thou walking every day?
How near I stood to danger's brink;
Some mocking spirit seems to say,—
“Where art thou walking every day?
293
A track that surely leads to death
Thou treadest since thine earliest breath:
A certain, fixed, relentless road
Unwinds before thee, strait or broad.
Thou treadest since thine earliest breath:
A certain, fixed, relentless road
Unwinds before thee, strait or broad.
There dangers frown, and woes impend;
Here springs a foe, there fails a friend,
A mortal shadow falleth here,
And there a still more mortal fear.
Here springs a foe, there fails a friend,
A mortal shadow falleth here,
And there a still more mortal fear.
Some heavy grief, some woful fall,
Some madness shall thy soul appal,
And o'er the track where thou hast gone
Thy certain death comes swiftly on.
Some madness shall thy soul appal,
And o'er the track where thou hast gone
Thy certain death comes swiftly on.
Nor canst thou in thine agony
Beyond this track for safety flee,
Thy fate is fixed, thine end is sure,
Poor soul, be silent and endure!
Beyond this track for safety flee,
Thy fate is fixed, thine end is sure,
Poor soul, be silent and endure!
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