THE LOCOMOTIVE

by: Christopher Cranch (1813-1892)

HIRLING along its living freight, it came,

Hot, panting, fierce, yet docile to command--

The roaring monster, blazing through the land

Athwart the night, with crest of smoke and flame;

Like those weird bulls Medea learned to tame

By sorcery, yoked to plough the Colchian strand

In forced obedience under Jason's hand.

Yet modern skill outstripped this antique fame,

When o'er our plains and through the rocky bar

Of hills it pushed its ever-lengthening line

Of iron roads, with gain far more divine

Than when the daring Argonauts from far

Came for the golden fleece, which like a star

Hung clouded in the dragon-guarded shrine.

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