Okie
farmers, land windblown, buried by dust, barely hangin' on
Dryland farmers,
starved for rain, not knowin' if it'd come again
Farmin' shares, they had
their doubts, they borrowed time, but time ran out
Kicked off their land, declared
bankrupt, blown to the winds, they'd seen enough
Mothers moaned and fathers
grieved, stuffed all they had in model T's
Took what they had, and took their
leave, weren't comin' back to misery
The road was lined them dreary days,
folks goin' down the same highway
Headin' west, they hoped and prayed, they'd
find some luck along the way
Not knowin' where they'd land each day, kept
up their spirits anyway
Chasin' the sun down the lost highway, route 66 to
Californ-I-A
Gold's in them hills they'd always heard, strangers told 'em,
took their word
A land so bathed in ocean breeze, that dollar bills hung from
the trees
So they sputtered up the hills, ran out of gas, but not of will
Crossed the mountains, deserts too, hopin' that their dreams came true
A golden land awaited them, just over the hill, around the bend
They thought
that if they made it then, their troubles had to surely end
Now
we all know how the story goes, the land of Eden wasn't so
And after all their
desperate trek, what they found, same as they left
No milk and honey, it was
plain, no pie in sky, no candy canes
There weren't no jobs, no place to stay,
their luck still bad, nothin' had changed
We've seen their photos, stark and
lean, those black and whites in magazines
The sadness in their eyes is shown,
the desperation in their bones
All those years of little rain, all those miles
of so much pain
Worn on their sleeves, their weariness, expressed in sorrow,
hopelessness
Now years have passed, we can't forget, those dust bowl Okies
remembered yet
Poor dirt farmers who survived, by strength of will, barely
scrapin' by
We marvel at their fire and grit, the toughness they exhibited
The pure determination they applied, how on earth did they survive?
Wonder
if it were to happen again, if we could do what they just did,
follow their
courageous ways, and make it through Depression days
To persist, to persevere,
against great odds and unknown fears, and
Have like strength, tenacious ways,
to survive the toll Of Dust Bowl days.
©
d.knape
November
9 , 2012
More
"Once Upon A Line" - Light verse and poetry by d.knape
|
