Out of Steam

Powered by vapor and shoveled coal On leveled tracks to take it to its goal A mobile kettle seething at the seams Polished with care, see how it gleams Smoke billows and rolls out of the stack Fleetingly turning the cold air black Pistons, shunts, maintain its motion Created with hard work and devotion Large wheels turn with rhythmic clack Speed near forty, there's no going back Betwixt towns and cities, it's closed the gap For cargo and people, it's on the last lap Proudly it nears its place of arrival Fine, molded steel and hard to rival With a whistle and a shriek and brakes applied It's a symbol of the past in a place of pride Buffer upon buffer it remains in its bay Out of steam and puff until the next day Now used to remind of an industrial past A far cry from the ones electrified and fast This prototype of steam of steam an engineer's whiz Remains for all to see and relive.