TRIVIA: An epitaph (from Greek ἐπιτάφιος epitaphios "a funeral oration" from ἐπί epi "at, over" and τάφος taphos "tomb") is a short text honouring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense.
Epitaph to a train driver
My engine now is cold and still,
No water does my boiler fill;
My coke affords it flame no more,
My days of usefulness are o’er.
My wheels deny their wonted speed,
No more my guiding hands they need;
My whistle, too, has lost its tune,
Its shrill and thrilling sounds are gone:
My valves are now thrown open wide,
My flanges all refuse to guide,
My clacks also, though once so strong,
Refuse to aid the busy throng.
No more I feel each urging breath,
My steam is now condensed in death;
Life’s railway o’er, each station passed
In death I’m stopped, and rest at last.
Farewell dear friends and cease to weep,
In Christ I’m safe, in Christ I sleep.
The origin of this epitaph is discussed at length in Dow's Dictionary of Railway Quotations (2006, The Johns Hopkins University Press, page 65). It is referred to as "the Engine Driver's Epitaph", and is cited there as having appeared for the first time on the headstone of Oswald Gardner (St. Mary the St. Mary the Virgin Church - Whickan, County Durham, UK Virgin Parish Church, Whickhan, County Durham, England), killed at the age of 27 by a broken connecting rod on August 15, 1840.
