{
 "id": "james-weldon-johnson/the-word-of-an-engineer",
 "title": "The Word of an Engineer",
 "poet": "James Weldon Johnson",
 "poet_slug": "james-weldon-johnson",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Fifty Years & Other Poems",
 "book_slug": "fifty-years-and-other-poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 29,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1917,
  "venue": "Fifty Years & Other Poems (1917)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/fiftyyearsother00johnrich",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17884"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/james-weldon-johnson_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.google.com/books/edition/How_the_National_Association_for_the_Adv/AAs-AQAAMAAJ",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17884",
   "https://archive.org/details/fiftyyearsother00johnrich",
   "https://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/johnson/johnson.html",
   "https://archive.org/details/godstrombonessev00johnso"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-12"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 36,
  "n_stanzas": 6,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 35,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "“She’s built of steel",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From deck to keel,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And bolted strong and tight;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In scorn she’ll sail",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The fiercest gale,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And pierce the darkest night.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“The builder’s art",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Has proved each part",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Throughout her breadth and length;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Deep in the hulk,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of her mighty bulk,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ten thousand Titans’ strength.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The tempest howls,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Ice Wolf prowls,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The winds they shift and veer,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But calm I sleep,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And faith I keep",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the word of an engineer.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Along the trail",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the slender rail",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The train, like a nightmare, flies",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And dashes on",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Through the black-mouthed yawn",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where the cavernous tunnel lies.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Over the ridge,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Across the bridge,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Swung twixt the sky and hell,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On an iron thread",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Spun from the head",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the man in a draughtsman’s cell.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And so we ride",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Over land and tide,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Without a thought of fear⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Man never had",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The faith in God",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That he has in an engineer!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}