The Hell-bound Train
Tom drank until he could drink no more,
Then went to sleep on the barroom floor;
Where he slumbered with a troubled brain,
To dream that he rode on a hell-bound train.
Wilder and wilder the country grew,
Faster and faster the engine flew,
Louder and louder the thunder crashed,
Brighter and brighter the lightning flashed.
And out in the distance there rose a yell,
“Ah, ha,” said the devil, “we’re nearing hell.”
Then, oh how the passengers shrieked in pain
And begged of the devil to stop the train.
“You have bullied the weak, you have robbed the poor,
The starving brother you turned from your door,
You have laid up gold where canker rusts,
And given free use of your fleshly lusts.
“So I’ll land you safe in the lake of fire,
Where lost souls wail in the flaming mire.”
Then Tom awoke with an agonized cry,
His clothes soaked in sweat and hair standing high.
And he prayed as he never prayed before,
To be saved from drink and the devil’s power,
And his vow and prayers were not in vain,
For he never more rode on the hell-bound train.
* * *
Love, like a good drink, is a wonderful bracer.
Divorce, like ginger ale, is a marvelous chaser.
* * *