Through A Forest Fire

“Full speed ahead!” said the engineer,

     As he set his eyes a-strain;

And adown the track, like a bolt of black,

     Thundered the south-bound train.

In the far distance we saw the smoke

     Mounting the red-tinged sky,

With the pines below in fiery glow,

     While the air was biting dry.

Cinders and sparks, like a flight of birds,

     Soaring and whirling apace;

A dense, moving wall, a gathering pall,

     Smothering life and space.

Nearer and nearer the roaring mass,

     Nearer the wall of smoke;

Until it seemed right well in that seething hell

     The very iron horse must choke!

Onward she plunged through the black and red,

     Cutting a hole that shut

Like a vise behind, while the men, half-blind,

     Fought against the winds that cut.

“Full speed ahead!” said the engineer,

     In a moment or two ‘twas o’er,

And we bade good bye to the black-red sky

     And the death-like pitch pine roar.

May 14, 1913

Sent to NY Sun