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Railway Track

JOSIE'S POEMS
 
Steam-Train Poems
for Children


By Josie Whitehead

Railway Track

For certain this is a Poem to Perform
and has
ANAPAESTIC Metre

Heading.jpg
Sense of Pride (A)

Hear the whistle from the platform
     As the guard says: 'Time to go.'
See the green flag that waves briskly;
     And the engine’s pull is slow.

Feel the rhythm and the motion
    As the train moves down the track
With the fireman on the footplate,
     And the guard’s van at the back.

See the steam blow from the funnel.
     Hear the wheels beat down below.
Feel the rhythm of its heartbeat
     As with power and speed we go.

In the tunnel, close the windows,
    Smell the smoke that’s blown inside;
Taste the soot upon your taste buds
     As through the dark we glide.

We explode into bright sunshine,
     Passing through a high ravine;
Then clatter through a valley
    With its fresh pastoral scene. 

See the cattle in the meadow
     Raise their heads as we pass by? -
Whilst surging smoke drifts upwards
     To besmear the cloudless sky.

Here are factories and offices - 
     A town appears in sight.
Feel the slowing of the engine,
     And it’s here that we alight.

Copyright on all my poems

 

 

 


 

Fireman on the footplate.jpg
* A footplate provides the structure on which the driver and fireman stand in the cab to operate a steam train.

 . . . . . With the fireman on the footplate

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