As Suddenly as it Began

One of Roger Puta’s Unconventional Railfan photos (source)

It ends as suddenly as it began
As flashes of the flood when the river o'erran
The blaze of the lightning which stains the summer sky
As the screaming of the wheels of a train gone roaring by;
With a tower as it falls underneath its awesome weight
And the trees in the gale come crashing out their fate
As a ship torn asunder by the arm of the west
The same that mighty bridges must fin'ly bring to rest;
So rest you mighty pistons, and still you humming gears
Be soundless, summer night, be calm from all your fears
O stone and steel and wood and wire
In cooling down to coals, no more the bellows fire
Now sleeping in the deeps, the giant on the hill
In laying of his head, his final wish fulfill:
May it justly be of all the works of man,
It ends just as suddenly as it began.