International Railroad Discussion > Images From Dusk to Dawn

THE LITTLE KAROO

Sudden the desert changes,
The red glare softens and clings,
Till the aching Oudtshoorn ranges,
Stand up like the thrones of kings.

Royal the pageant closes,
Lit by the last of the sun-
Opal and ash-of-roses,
Cinnamon, umber and dun.

We hear the Hottentot herders
As the sheep click past to the fold,
And the crick of the restless girders
As the steel contracts in the cold.

Voices of jackals calling,
And, loud in the hush between,
A morsel of dry earth falling
From the flanks of the scarred ravine.

And the solemn firmament marches,
And the hosts of heaven rise,
Framed through the iron arches,
Banded and barred by the ties.

Till we feel the far track humming,
And we see her headlight plain,
And we gather and wait her coming-
The wonderful northbound train.

Rudyard Kipling

Inspired by pages 60-61 of The Great Steam Trek by
C.P. Lewis and A.A. Jorgensen.


Photo: Grahamstown, South Africa - July,1977
Africansteam

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