Getting out of Dodge

Getting out of Dodge 9/13/2012

A cold wind sweeps across the plains
And the smell of cattle
Stings the nostrils
And nauseates the stomach.

The last time I was there
It was the same
Desolate, abandoned
Dead and cold.

You could feel the dirt in your teeth
And the sun could not be seen
Even though you can see forever
Nothing but endless nothingness
All around.

I drove by the old schools
Where I had spent my youth
Countless hours upon hours
Long ago and far away.

There was no future there
Not for me or anyone else
Even though there should have been
In the perfect world
That we almost had.

Sometime you don’t even know
All that you have
And sometimes all the blessings
In the world
Are as useless as dust.

The good guys become the bad guys
And pure evil gets a pass
Frontier wisdom
Wasted on the sons
Too gifted to worry
And too rich to want.

The past seems far away
But they understood
Better than me
And better than you.

Facing death every day
That had to scratch and claw
Just to eat
And just to survive.

They knew what to do
And they knew how to do it
Because no one ever did it for you
And no one ever should.

You had to fight
And fight furiously
To beat back the odds
Of nature, beast and man.

Justice had to be done
And often it was
Back when the truth mattered
And was settled
Under the sun.

The old house was built
And now its falling apart
A disintegrating ruin
Moth eaten and dry.

Where are they?
Now that we need them
Men of iron
Standing in the street.

Born and bred
In the heart of the heartland
In a place and a time
Long forgotten and dead.

I have left
But a part of me remains
Still standing
And waiting.

They can burn the brush
And they can terrorize the town
But every minute
The sun still rises
Higher in the sky
And closer to noon.