Upon a dreary winter's night
Snow falls quietly in the small town-
This town of the Railroad,
Lit by a mere single lantern light.
There is not a sound-
The wind blows an icy chill
that stings the bare flesh.
This mother earth; dressed in her finest winter gown.
Two dark streams cut their way through dirt and ice.
Rails frozen in place; wooden planks hold them close.
The rail spikes that pierce the ground
-a quarter century old, still suffice.
In the distance, a figure trudges through the snow.
The crunch of the crisp powder underfoot
echoes off the dark, looming houses-
Not one alit by a fire's glow.
His cheeks are colored rose.
His eyes, dark; seeing nothing yet, seeing all.
The coat on his back is ragged and worn.
A tear streams from his eye; almost frozen, onto his nose.
He walks along the two metal streams;
Black as ebony; cold, hard, and beautiful
-an essential pathway to an ingenious Beast
that inspired and destroyed countless dreams.
This was his life's one way;
creating the road of the glorious contraption-
This breadwinning job that kept him from his fading wife's side,
this Monster that carried his son, never to return, to the war's fray.
He runs his fingers across this man-made diamond in the rough.
The shadows of the past written in his eyes.
He can give nothing more to the insatiable appetite of the Beast.
He wonders why he ever thought that all he had would ever be enough.
With a weary and aged voice, he slowly speaks;
"I have given you my wife, I have given you our child, and my time.
My life belongs to you for I have given you everything I ever loved.
I ask now that you give me the one thing I shall ever ask for."
He speaks of his desire for release, a way from his empty life he seeks.
He lays his head on the metal he help built; His cold foundation.
In the distance he can hear the Beast's growl.
"Come, demon. Come." He closes his eyes.
He gives a light laugh, as death steams forward, on his own creation.
Author notes
XxMeaganStrangexX: Okay, to my readers, I want you to understand what this powem is about. This is about the way of the American Railway, the blood, sweat, and tears that railworkers were forced to endure while building the so-called glorious invention. Workers faced harsh weather conditions, horribly long work hours, and injury was almost guaranteed. This is the story of one of those workers.
A contest entry
- hurt by solitarytear.
400 points, ended January 18, 23 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - desperatly depressing by frozenblackpetals.
550 points, ended February 4, 49 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Punk Poetry- Anti-Establishment by Tivoli.
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• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
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holy crap.
you totally had me all wooshed up into the story, and i was all like 'gah!' at the end. totally captivating and sad. wow. the beging was kinda like 'ugh, how long is this?' but once it got going I was (like afore mentioned) wooooosh!!!!
yeah. woosh. um
totally loved it!! thanks for entering my contest!!!
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i will give a 5/5 for the poem, and 5/5 for the coloring. you get 4/5 for the message. and an 4/5 for the picture that the poem gives
grand total of 18/20 -
way cool
this was very suspenseful, carried you along word by word
well done
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Whoa, this is a very nice write- I can see where you crafted this whole story of the old man building his own "death railway" and negotiating with the "Beast".
Brilliant analogy.
Thank you so much for your entry and all the best to you!
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