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Drew the Wrong Lever

BRANCH LINES:

Drew the Wrong Lever

by Alexander Anderson

Submitted by Jack Turner and taken from a book entitled “Good Words” first published in 1880.

This was what, the pointsman said,
With both hands at his throbbing head:

I drew the wrong lever standing here
And the danger signals stood at clear;

But before I could draw it back again
On came the fast express, and then –

Then came a roar and a crash that shook
This cabin-floor, but I could not look

At the wreck, for I knew the dead would peer
With strange dull eyes at their murderer here!

“Drew the wrong lever?” “Yes I say,
Go, tell the wife, and take me away”

That was what the pointsman said,
With both hands at his throbbing head.

O ye of this nineteenth century time,
Who hold low dividends as a crime,

Listen. So long as a twelve hours strain
Rests like a load of lead on the brain,

With its ringing of bells and rolling of wheels,
Drawing of levers until one feels

The hands grow numb with a nerveless touch,
And the handles shake and slip in the clutch,

So long will ye have pointsman to say –
“Drew the wrong lever, take me away”.