The Hell-Bound Train

Adapted by Herbert Wagner
From an Old Mining or Logger's Ballad for the Novel
Cassandra Fallen

Herbst Jahn fell down on the churchyard floor,
Toked so much he could toke no more;
He drifted off with a poisoned brain,
To dream he rode the hell-bound train!

The engine red was smoking crack,
And brightly lit with a brimstone lamp;
An Imp for fuel was shoveling bones,
While the furnace roared with a thousand groans!

The boiler steamed Milwaukee beer,
The Devil himself was the engineer;
Riders all were a dismal crew,
Charlie, Frank, and Nifty too!

Losers, outlaws, junkies in rags,
Foxy young women and withered old hags;
Boozers, bikers, tough guys who'll fight,
All shackled together in a hideous plight!

Faster and faster the wheels went round,
Wilder and wilder grew the fearsome sound;
Brighter and brighter the lightning flashed,
Louder and louder the thunder crashed!

The passengers now were writhing in pain,
They begged the Devil to stop the train;
But he danced and pranced in unholy glee,
As he drank from the bung of their agonies!

Hotter and hotter the air became,
As it melted the flesh from each screaming frame;
While away in the distance they heard this yell,
"Ha! ha!" croaked the Demon, "We are passing through Hell!"

"You blashemed and mocked," the Evil One cried,
"You whored and you raped, you murdered and lied.
"You double-crossed partners, you cheated and stole.
"You belong to me now both body and soul!"

Then Jahn awoke with a desperate cry,
His face was stained and his hair stood high;
He opened his eyes and what did he see,
But a smiling blonde angel and cruel Valkurie!