Nine Minutes

At 4 a.m. the 319 was hurrying through the night
John Ridges saw the dull reflected glowing panel light
Beneath his hands, the warm controls responded to his touch
As he drank a little coffee, though he didn't care for much

He also had a bite to eat, a thing he liked to do
The cutting here was long and clear, the engine driver knew
And then a strange thing happened, felt like something breaking free
As the lines appeared to lift a fraction, momentarily
And the time was 4:03

He never saw or understood why anything was wrong
The glowing gauges disappeared, his instruments had gone
He heard a sound, though what it was his mind could not deduce
He couldn't see, as others could, the giant breaking loose

Amid the screams of tortured steel, he tried to stop the train
The flying sparks before the eyes that wouldn't see again
Were coming through the cabin floor, now gone without a trace
And Driver Ridges felt the cooling wind upon his face

The grinding ceased, the stricken train came slowly to a halt
And some survivors still maintain it was all the driver's fault
But no one caught a fleeting glimpse among the trackside pines
Of the smiling face of the one who placed the rocks upon the lines
And the time was 4:09