Now as the train bears west, <br />Its rhythm rocks the earth, <br />And from my Pullman berth <br />I stare into the night <br />While others take their rest. <br />Bridges of iron lace, <br />A suddenness of trees, <br />A lap of mountain mist <br />All cross my line of sight, <br />Then a bleak wasted place, <br />And a lake below my knees. <br />Full on my neck I feel <br />The straining at a curve; <br />My muscles move with steel, <br />I wake in every nerve. <br />I watch a beacon swing <br />From dark to blazing bright; <br />We thunder through ravines <br />And gullies washed with light. <br />Beyond the mountain pass <br />Mist deepens on the pane; <br />We rush into a rain <br />That rattles double glass. <br />Wheels shake the roadbed stone, <br />The pistons jerk and shove, <br />I stay up half the night <br />To see the land I love.<br /><br />Theodore Roethke<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/night-journey/
