There's a poem carved into the stonework of Washington Union Station, part of the art installation The Progress of Railroading from c. 1909:

the old mechanic arts / controlling new forces / build new highways / for goods and men / override the ocean / and make the very ether / carry human thought

the desert shall rejoice / and blossom as the rose

> the desert shall rejoice / and blossom as the rose

Or, rewritten for the Los Angeles Aqueduct:

the desert shall wither / and blossom in a plume of dust [1]

[1] https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-06-19/owens-v...