Railway Children
After the branch line went to Ochiltree -
I would have been fifteen – two men were shut
In the station waiting-room, and one of them
Brought out his pocket anecdote of me:
'The boy's a splurger! - hey, when Danny Craig
Passed him a flask on the train the other day,
He gulped it, just for the sake of showing off.
And he's a coward too, for all his face.
For after he'd taken the drink, he noised about,
And Dan, to clip his wings, made up a threat
To hang him out o' the window by his heels -
You know Dan didn't mean it, but the boy
Grew white at the very idea o't – shook
Like a dog in the wet - "Oh!," he cried, and "Oh! -
But how would tha ground go flying past your eyes;
How quick tha wheel beside your face would buzz -
Would blind you by quickness – how tha grey slag
Would flash below ye!" - Those were his actual words;
He seemed to see it all as if for real,
And flinched, and stopped, and stared, like a body in fits,
Till Dan was drawn to give him another drink;
"You'd spew with dizziness," he said, shut
His eyes where he sat, and actually bocked himself.'
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