On a Railroad

I am in raptures, happy, gay:
Glorious scenes now greet my eye.
Only the birds ere now could fly,
But men can also fly to-day.
Fleet-winged thought or venturous mind.
We'll in the race with you compete.
Spur on your horse! A splendid heat!
We shall, withal, leave you behind.
Hills and vales, seas, men and trees.
What else I pass God only knows;
My wonder, my amazement grows,
Viewing these misty sceneries.

The sun runs with us as in dread

Of quick pursuit— a madman's thought —
By devils who, if him they caught,

Into small fragments then would shred.

He ran and ran and onward fled.
But all in vain! He had to stop,
Tired, on a western mountain top:

Blushing with shame, his face is red.
But in our ride we still proceed;

We weary not, feel no fatigue;

And, rolling up league after league,
To reach new worlds shall yet succeed.

A thousand railroads men shall build
Throughout the earth, till endless chains
Or iron lines, like human veins, t

The world with healthy life have filled.

The railroads are the veins of earth;
Culture and progress prosper where
They cause pulsations in the air;

To nation's greatness they give birth .
Build railroads,, more than heretofore;
You ask whence you shall iron take?

The chains and yokes of slavery break;
Let human slavery be no more!