A Whistle Dream

A song about hopes and dreams of alittle boy to become a steam train driver but how he fails at school, how his Mumma gets sick and passes. She leaves him something and he uses it to go to night school and pass all the tests and finally realises his dream to become a train driver, in memory of his Mumma. ‪@RichardPoile63‬ [Verse 1] He laid the little railway ’cross the living-room floor, Tin engine, painted coaches, circling past the door. He’d push them through the afternoon, make every whistle sound, A small boy in a far-off cab, with miles of make-believe ground. [Verse 2] His mother took his hand one Saturday in spring, They walked the old Steam Museum where iron giants slept. He gazed up at their great wheels, at brass and coal-black steel, Then looked into her eyes as if she knew just how he felt. [Chorus] He said, “One day I’ll drive one, Mama, right across this land, With a timetable before me and your picture close at hand.” She smiled and squeezed his fingers; he held that promise true, A little boy with a whistle dream, and a mother pulling through. [Verse 3] School was a long, hard crossing; he never found his track, The other kids would laugh at him and shove his books right back. He tried to keep his head up, but the years went rolling by, Till he left with no diploma and a wish he couldn’t hide. [Verse 4] He stacked the cans and cereal on supermarket shelves, While through the window, locomotives carried somewhere else. Those heavy beasts went thundering past, the glass began to shake, He’d pause beneath the buzzing lights and watch them disappear. [Chorus] He said, “One day I’ll drive one, Mama, right across this land, With a timetable before me and your picture close at hand.” She smiled and squeezed his fingers; he held that promise true, A grown man with a whistle dream, and a mother pulling through. [Bridge] Then one quiet day she took sick; the house grew still and small, He sat beside her through the night and held her hand through all. When she was gone, her letter said, “There’s something here for you,” And every line he studied felt like she was pulling through. [Verse 5] He went to night school tired, with his work shirt folded neat, Learned the sums and signals, learned the rules from page to seat. He passed the tests one by one; his hands were steady, sure, Then climbed into the driver’s cab and heard the old dream stir. [Final Chorus] Now he drives that train, Mama, right across this land, Your photograph beside him and the timetable in his hand. The wheels roll out of town; he looks up through the glass: “Look, Mumma, I done this for you. I hope I made you proud.” [Outro] The little trains still circle on the living-room floor, But her boy’s at the throttle now, and dreaming no more.