I Am the Train

From the rivers to the mountains Coast to shiny coast There's a silver line of mercury Whining like a ghost You can hear me in the grasslands You can feel me in the trees Moving through the valleys like a wayward summer breeze You can sense me in the atmosphere across the dusty plain I'm not the tickets, I'm not the tracks, I am the train Bring me priests and politicians Secular and saved They're in it for the long haul From the cradle to the grave You can ask 'em where they're going They're gonna tell you where they've been They're all pugilists and pirates way down underneath the skin It don't make a world of difference Sacred or profane I'm not the journey, I'm not the railroad, I am the train Well there's a little yellow idol Green and red ones too Burning up the road side from here to Kalamazoo While a hundred million effigies are burning across the land Like so many heartfelt messages delivered by my hand I've seen triumphs, I've seen tragedies through the sun and rain I'm not the sirens, I ain't the blinds, I am the train Here me whistle here me whine I'm moving down the line with you Here me rumble here me grind See my light come shining through I've got stones all in my pass way Can't you feel my pain I'm not the station, I'm not the stops, I am the train I was there through war and pestilence I was there through hours of need Driven by your opulence driven by your greed You were master you were slaver See the blood upon your hands I was built by stone and labor that you took from foreign lands I've shown a bacon in the darkness cast a light upon your sin While your squeezed out all the juice I guess you're doing it again It will drive you to distraction it will drive you crane insane I'm not the journey, I ain't the railroad, I am the train I ain't the sirens, I'm not the blinds, I am the train The mean old fireman, cruel old engineer, I am the train