Poems (Storrie)/In a Railway Carriage

by Agnes Louisa Storrie

In a Railway Carriage.

The hills dance in a circle,
 The wide plain swiftly turns,
Fences flit by, the wheeling sky
 A new rotation learns.

Dim roadways, dust-enshrouded,
 Like pallid ribands run,
And in and out a cloudy rout
 Pirouettes the sun.

The wires, with elfin swiftness,
 Now soar, now sink, now soar,
Till sight with dizzy faintness
 Can follow them no more.

Far hills are now behind us,
 And streams and bridges fade,
Distance is distanced, and my heart
 Is harassed and afraid,

For, through the clang and clamour
 Of sounds that sink and swell,
One word is beating on my brain—
 Farewell! farewell! farewell!

And every wheel revolving
 Crushes my peace of mind,
And every league we traverse
 Leaves happiness behind.

No goal can compensate me,
 While, like a fatal knell,
Those iron voices harshly cry—
 Farewell! farewell! farewell!