Train whistle

** train whistle **
In the morning I can hear
The whistle of the train
Going down the tracks
They pulled up fifty years ago
The voices of engineer and driver
As they discuss the bridge
A mile on further down the road
Crossing a deep gully
Carved out from the soft bedrock
An eon or two ago
They are shoveling coal to keep steam up
Contemplating dinner and loved ones
Not much further down the track
Seems to them the train will be forever
A constant cross this land
And then the accident happens
The bridge fails beneath train's weight
Accusations and charges brought to bear
On the Board and Management
Irregularities in tender and construction
The legal wrangling for years
As track rust over and sink unevenly
Into soft soils on which they sit
The sleepers rot and all succumbs
To a complete lack of attention
The townships planned are shelved
Without a rail-line progress stalls
Other options instead pursued
The promise of the railway forgotten
This end of the world remains
Untouched unspoilt and untidy
And the ghosts of what might have been
Talk as they travel ever onward
To an end they do not yet know.