Ode to the: Race of the Old Yonah

(April, 1862—The Civil War)

James J. Andrews, finessed his way
through tight places, avoiding clashes
with the south (a Union Spy)
where a flinch of an eyelash
meant death—!

His quest, had now been to take the Engine
General, and its three boxcars
at the depot called – ‘Big Shanty’ at
Marietta, Georgia—race onto
Bridgeport, Alabama, with thirty
armed soldiers,

—thus, the race began, heading westward;
Conductor William A. Fuller in pursuit!

The Yankees only eleven minutes ahead!
Heaving and pulling iron rails loose
until they snapped—to slow old Yonah down,
Fuller still behind…

One mistake Andrews had made along the way,
was not to destroy the old engine Yonah,
thinking, it had its day…
which would seal his fate, write his epitaph
(for that was the engine Fuller used to
start his race…)!

Consequently, capturing Andrews along the way
and most of his squad;
hanging Andrews
eleven days before his wedding,
leaving his bones in Dixie!


Note: Those who have not been in war, will never understand the simplest of friction, it can produce with the simplest of things, distortion in the mind (miscalculations); you see the mind doesn’t always function the exact way you’d expect it to. Especially when making moment to moment decisions as in the: “…Race of the Old Yonah” (12/21/2011)

#3360 (12-20-2011)