Midnight Train

I did not hear what was always there the midnight train from Memphis I did not feel the earth tremble in fear that's the way it is when you live so near the tracks the train ran right through town it pealed in the night and at dawn it rattled every coffee cup and spoon and yet it was invisible no one felt or heard it the train rolled south to New Orleans but only in the day was seen only in the day was heard the whistle crossing Highway Forty Nine rumbling toward the next delta town I never heard it tiptoe cross the river cross the trestle where I had jumped to prove myself a man and when it took me north toward home* its rhythm rocked me into dreams