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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 10 (March 21, 1927)

The Dream of the Night Express

page 5

The Dream of the Night Express

There'S a twinkling light in the distance,
Like the gleam of a clouded star,
There's an echo in the distance—
A sea-bird homing far:
A faint low sound in the distance
Like the moaning of a bar.
Mildly the stars are beaming,
Weirdly the night birds call,
And the drowsy misty semblance,
Of a dream is over all.
But the twinkling star grows brighter,
The call becomes more defined;
'Tis the muffled scream of a fairy
In conflict with the wind.
And the sound is a chariot rolling—
Nearer and clearer it steals,
A chariot star in the distance,
Rolling on ebonite wheels.
Now the star has a form behind it,
The form of a lighted snake;
So, winding itself through the darkness,
The dream takes definite shape.

Their Royal Highnesses leave Auckland for Rotorua. The Royal train on the Parnell Bank, Auckland.

Their Royal Highnesses leave Auckland for Rotorua. The Royal train on the Parnell Bank, Auckland.

The star is a glittering headlight;
The call is a railway code—
And the snake is the train of the night express,
Christened “The Queen of the Road.”
Louder and brighter and clearer,
Faster and faster it comes;
Shrieking for main line signals
With the noise of a million drums.
Exhaling the breath of a vampire,
Flashing a vampire's eyes;
Making its sound and its livid sparks
With clouds and stars in the skies.
Crushing the clattering metals,
Shrieking a demon cry—
Athrill with the magic of motion,
“The Queen of the Road” roars by.
But what of the form in the distance?
What of the twinkling star?
And the voice of the dreary sea-bird
Plaintively calling afar?
Let night, with its ghouls and its darkness,
Let night with its shades confess—
The form and the star and the plaintive cry,
Made the dream of the night express.