Highland Homecoming

In praise of engines

Struggling so valiantly

Pushing through the snow

Roaring heart of fire

Champion of industry

Glowing in the night

A sketch in charcoal

Soot and smudge in flying cloud

Blots on the landscape

Among burning coals

The driver is purified

When the fireman speaks

Heavy chattering

Of gridlock iron, moving

Past rails of gossip

When the days darken

Engine hurries home through crisp

Cotton-candy fields

The sun-chariot

Finishing its daily round,

Phoebus declining

Black caterpillar

Munching through the deathly white

Winter fields, for home

With a head of steam,

Charcoal brazier defying

The rule of the night

Bright candle, chuffing

Through the dark, cheering those who

Wait for spring to come