By parliamentary slow, alas, I now must travel on
Where with thy speed and joyous shriek rejoiced I should have gone;
But, sitting down on yon platform, I now in vain must grunt,
“It was here he blew his whistle shrill, when last I saw him shunt!”
“When last I saw him shunt!” Away! The foolish dream is o’er;
I see that thou art shunting still, and here thou art once more.
They tempted me, my railway train, for hunger’s power is strong;
They tempted me, my railway train! I near had gorged too long!
Who said that I had lost the train? Who said that thou wast gone?
’Tis false—’tis false, my railway train; I still shall travel on.