Union Songs

The Fatal Train

A poem by David Peetz ©2001 David Peetz

To the widowed father, it's like a bad dream
For the sake of his kids, he suppresses a scream
But if he'd been on time, might his wife not have been
Aboard the fatal train.

If a signal is broken, is a driver at fault
Should he have proceeded, or drawn to a halt
In the midst of each night, he wakes with a jolt
Reliving the fatal train.

The rescue worker, he's hitting the liquor
Obsessed by that image of pulse of bare flicker
Could he have saved her, if he had been quicker
Inside the fatal train.

But the almighty dollar, it feels no guilt
It knows not even that blood was spilt
Yet it cracked the tracks on which was built
The ride of the fatal train.

Notes

Many thanks to David Peetz fro permission to add this poem to the Union Songs collection. David recorded the poem for the CD "Railway Voices" available from the Rail Tram and Bus Union

Trains of Treasure
c/- Rail Tram and Bus Union
83-89 Renwick St
Redfern
NSW 2016
Australia
email rtbu@magna.com.au

see also: http://railwaystory.com/voices/voices29.htm

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