BROKEN RAILS
The swift express that never fails
Sweeps onward to its journey's end,
And wife and child and happy friend
Look forward to the city's pales,
Unconscious of those broken rails.
A plunge, a crash, no time to slack,
The swift express has jumped the track,
And shrieks and moans and dying wails,
And fearful flames with lurid light
Make hideous the coming night.
No wonder that the brave heart quails
Along life's dark uncertain track,
Man knoweth not what hour to slack
Or where to find the broken rails.
Sweeps onward to its journey's end,
And wife and child and happy friend
Look forward to the city's pales,
Unconscious of those broken rails.
A plunge, a crash, no time to slack,
The swift express has jumped the track,
And shrieks and moans and dying wails,
And fearful flames with lurid light
Make hideous the coming night.
No wonder that the brave heart quails
Along life's dark uncertain track,
Man knoweth not what hour to slack
Or where to find the broken rails.
TO PADEREWSKI PLAYING
'Tis vain for me to praise thy matchless power
Strange dweller in a land of mysteries,
When thou dost lean across the snowy keys
And fill my soul with feeling's richest dower,
Long years of baser life in that sweet hour
Are awakened by the magic of thy strain,
When tender love and joy and bitter pain
Sweep o'er my soul, like breezes o'er a flower.
Strange dweller in a land of mysteries,
When thou dost lean across the snowy keys
And fill my soul with feeling's richest dower,
Long years of baser life in that sweet hour
Are awakened by the magic of thy strain,
When tender love and joy and bitter pain
Sweep o'er my soul, like breezes o'er a flower.
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