Ambling down on the trestle track there
came to a place where the creek made bare
felt her heat before I knew her name

callus on my hand 'cause I played the game

delirious and mocking was a scar on the tree

rustling and red in the oracle breeze
heard these words from the sanctified mouth
of the tunnel in the tangle of a jackpine:


"Go split wood on the old mainline
away away away tomorrow

leave your gold in the devilish pine
"
And then and then and then
She kissed my cheek, I felt the fluttering spark

and I became a bread for breaking
."
Heard a voice in the rattling dark
"A train, a train, a train is coming."


Sunk my love in the old swim hole
Swinging from a log on a brakeman's rope

remembering the valley from long ago
flooded by the water that she swore to hold


But she lit my soul with a stuttering dart
tied my hands for the chastity art
kept me down in the shuddering hull

while she sold my sails in the afternoon lull

She said, "Go split wood on the old mainline

away away away tomorrow
leave your gold in the devilish pine"
and then and then and then

She kissed my cheek, I felt the fluttering spark
and I became a bread for breaking
I heard her voice in the rattling dark

"a train a train a train is coming."