Nine Minutes

Lyrics

At 4 AM, the 3:19 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 appearеd to lift a fraction momentarily And the time was 4:03 Hе 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