Culture

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    Poem Commentary

    After a trip to Wyoming i recalled standing at the Platte River by the Overland Trail and some years later wrote this..The picture is where the wagon wheels cutting into the limestone rock can still be seen.

    Culture
    culture
    I stand at the curve of the Platte
    west of Fort Laramie
    behind me the limestone rock
    intersects the great trail
    still carrying in the scars of the wagon wheels
    across from where the flowing river makes a turn
    behind the tall grass
    a century removed
    two young boys
    eyes wide in amazement
    at the solemn procession of white people
    pushing dragging carrying all that is theirs
    wearing down the earth where it doesn’t yield
    I see them rushing to tell their fathers
    who nod solemnly
    they already know
    perplexed and amused at this parade of white people
    they leave to follow the buffalo
    moving light and fast
    lifting their dead to the sky
    so that their souls will be light and fast
    their souls will soon be all that is left
    as the white man pulls his wagons
    drags his freedom
    and buries his dead across America
    the red man watches
    not knowing that this relentless courageous amusing procession
    will soon bury them
    I stand at the curve of the Platte
    a white man
    culture
    I stand at the curve of the Platte
    west of Fort Laramie
    behind me the limestone rock
    intersects the great trail
    still carrying in the scars of the wagon wheels
    across from where the flowing river makes a turn
    behind the tall grass
    a century removed
    two young boys
    eyes wide in amazement
    at the solemn procession of white people
    pushing dragging carrying all that is theirs
    wearing down the earth where it doesn’t yield
    I see them rushing to tell their fathers
    who nod solemnly
    they already know
    perplexed and amused at this parade of white people
    they leave to follow the buffalo
    moving light and fast
    lifting their dead to the sky
    so that their souls will be light and fast
    their souls will soon be all that is left
    as the white man pulls his wagons
    drags his freedom
    and buries his dead across America
    the red man watches
    not knowing that this relentless courageous amusing procession
    will soon bury them
    I stand at the curve of the Platte
    a white man

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    jimmymc600 commented on Culture

    01-23-2011

    Well done pod'na..the plight of the American Indian with the come'n of the White man. I have always thought in many ways what we called civilize'n the American Indian was the dumbest thing any White man could do. All the men did was hunt, fish and fight..women did all the work!!
    Reply to Comment

    train64

    01/23/2011

    thanks for taking the time to read a bunch of my stuff.. Been writing for over 35 years.. Haven't really sent anything out much so i have a ton on OP..Thanks for the kind words...

    Poetry comes nearer to vital truth than history.

    Plato (BC 427-BC 347) Greek philosopher.

    train64’s Poems (87)

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