A Promised Fast Train

Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)



I turned my eyes upon the Future's scroll
And saw its pictured prophecies unroll.

I saw that magical life-laden train
Flash its long glories o'er Nebraska's plain.

I saw it smoothly up the mountain glide.
'O happy, happy passengers!' I cried.

For Pleasure, singing, drowned the engine's roar,
And Hope on joyous pinions flew before.

Then dived the train adown the sunset slope-
Pleasure was silent and unseen was Hope.

Crashes and shrieks attested the decay
That greed had wrought upon that iron way.

The rusted rails broke down the rotting ties,
And clouds of flying spikes obscured the skies.

My coward eyes I drew away, distressed,
And fixed them on the terminus to-West,

Where soon, its melancholy tale to tell,
One bloody car-wheel wabbled in and fell!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

40 sec read
73

Quick analysis:

Scheme AA BB CC DD EE FF GG HH II
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 748
Words 131
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2

Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist. more…

All Ambrose Bierce poems | Ambrose Bierce Books

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    "A Promised Fast Train" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/1651/a-promised-fast-train>.

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