The Rail Road

Thou great proclaimer to the outward eye Of what the spirit too would seek to tell, Onward thou go'st, appointed from on high The other warnings of the Lord to swell; Thou art the voice of one that through the world Proclaims in startling tones, "Prepare the way;" The lofty mountain from its seat is hurled, The flinty rocks thine onward march obey; The valleys lifted from their lowly bed O'ertop the hills that on them frowned before, Thou passest where the living seldom tread, Through forests dark, where tides beneath thee roar, And bid'st man's dwelling from thy track remove, And would with warning voice his crooked paths reprove.