Into the gloom of the deep, dark night, <br />With panting breath and a startled scream; <br />Swift as a bird in sudden flight <br />Darts this creature of steel and steam. <br /> <br />Awful dangers are lurking nigh, <br />Rocks and chasms are near the track, <br />But straight by the light of its great white eye <br />It speeds through the shadows, dense and black. <br /> <br />Terrible thoughts and fierce desires <br />Trouble its mad heart many an hour, <br />Where burn and smoulder the hidden fires, <br />Coupled ever with might and power. <br /> <br />It hates, as a wild horse hates the rein, <br />The narrow track by vale and hill; <br />And shrieks with a cry of startled pain, <br />And longs to follow its own wild will.<br /><br />Ella Wheeler Wilcox<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-engine/
