Don Valley: ‘…wither, in despair, the tyrants of all lands’

Ebenezer Elliott on the opening of the Sheffield to Rotherham Railway in 1838

…For mind shall conquer time and space;

Bid East and West shake hands!

Bring over Ocean, face to face,

Earth’s ocean-sever’d strands;

And on this path, Iron bear

Words that shall wither, in despair,

The tyrants of all lands.

But, lo! the train! – On! onward! – still Loud shrieks the kindled wave; And back fly hamlet, tree, and hill,
White steam, and banners brave;

And thoughts on vapoury wings are hurld,

To shake old thrones and change a world…

Ebenezer Elliott’s Selected ‘Verses on the Opening of the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway’ Sourced from: