When the arc of the hands of his watch <br />Reached the top of the hour <br />Sam pushed the throttle forward. <br /> <br />Engine 138 thundered <br />Out of Blossburg station <br />Like an iron dragon <br />Breathing smoke and steam - <br />Whistle shrilling over the Tioga valley. <br /> <br />Powered by coal <br />The train carried coal <br />To the waiting city of Elmira <br />Where Sam would press his mother's hand - <br />Perhaps for the final time. <br /> <br />The wheels churning iron on iron <br />Across Pennsylvania farmlands, <br />Turned like other wheels before <br />Moving settlers west <br />To break its ready earth - <br />Wheels beneath his grandfather's oxcart <br />Turning toward Lycoming's verdant hills. <br /> <br />New wheels now carried America <br />To urban landscapes <br />Drawing us like electro-magnets <br />To streetlamps - factories - dry good stores - <br />New crops for a modern age. <br /> <br />Elmira’s silhouette expanded on the horizon. <br />And Sam pulled the train in on time - <br />Brakes screeching through billowing steam. <br /> <br />His wife, Jenny and his sister's Sam <br />Came in a horseless carriage <br />With Zoe, Marie and Edward, <br />Children now grown at their sides. <br /> <br />They all gathered by Hannah's bed <br />Now approaching her final hours <br />Soft voices and fragile smiles <br />Cradled the truth beyond all telling: <br /> <br />Time, ever advancing <br />Like the hands of a fine old watch, <br />Holds us all in its circling sway <br /> <br /><I>August, 2006<I/><br /><br />Robert Charles Howard<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sam-s-watch-1915/
