TRAINS — Nashville To Atlanta (1)
We follow the old road
as the tracks run through fateful junctions,
each a make-or-break—
cut the lines and the armies
must pull back north or south.
Calling, calling,
its voice rising and falling,
the snake of freight moves past the old depots.
Sharp warning whistles punctuate
the mournful cries.
Pulling the endless cars
the engine speaks in its patterned cadence
to the Rebel dead and to the Union dead
drawn up in silent rows beside the tracks
beneath their unmarked stones.
TRAINS - Nashville to Atlanta (2)
The old road follows the tracks
through Resaca, Dalton, Tunnel Hill,
bodies piled up with each attack,
waves on wave sent in to seize
the track and change the battle tide.
The depots pose as quaint museums.
Their terrible past surrounds them,
everywhere markers
tell of the bloody inches won or lost.
The snake of freight moves
past the stations
Calling, calling, its voice
rising and falling,
sharp warning whistles punctuate
the mournful cries.
Pulling the endless cars
the engine speaks in its patterned cadence
to the Rebel dead and to the Union dead
drawn up in silent rows beside the tracks
beneath their unmarked stones.
TRAINS Nashville to Atlanta (3)
The snake of freight moves
past the stations
Calling, calling, its voice
rising and falling,
sharp warning whistles punctuate
the mournful cries.
Route 41 lies close by the tracks
through Resaca, Dalton, Tunnel Hill,
bodies piled up with the attacks,
wave on wave sent in to seize
the rails and change the battle tide.
The depots pose as quaint museums.
Their bloody past surrounds them,
everywhere signs tell
of inches won or lost.
Pulling the endless cars
the engine speaks its patterned cadence
to the Rebel dead and to the Union dead
drawn up in silent rows
beneath their unmarked stones.
TRAINS Nashville to Atlanta (4)
The snake of freight moves
past the stations
Calling, calling, its voice
rising, falling,
sharp warning whistles punctuate
the mournful cries.
Route 41 lies close by the tracks
through Resaca, Dalton, Tunnel Hill,
bodies piled up with the attacks,
wave on wave sent in to seize the rails,
to change the battle tide.
The depots pose as quaint museums.
Their bloody past surrounds them,
everywhere signs tell
of inches won or inches lost.
Pulling the endless cars
the engine speaks its patterned cadence
to the Rebel dead and to the Union dead
drawn up in silent rows
beneath their unmarked stones.
Lari Smith
Notes to "Train — Nashville to Atlanta"
The Western campaign of the Civil War centered on attempts by the
Union to cut the Confederate train line that supplied their entire war
effort. The Union forces could only move a short distance from the
train themselves, as it supplied their own forces as they fought.
The battles were terrible and costly and the railroad tracks lead through
small town after small town with large Civil War cemeteries; many of the
gravestones nameless.