West Gone
Go west
Young man
He said
But he didn’t mean it
In that he didn’t go
And in heaven
He’ll say
I wasn’t young
To which the angels
Might reply
Did you think of all the souls
Already west
Living
Hunting
Worshipping the land and sky
And he might say
I knew that
They were there
But had all these people in the east
Needing somewhere to go
The war
The horrors of the restless war
And then
The burdens in the restless peace
Thereafter
Not enough
He might be told
But enter heaven
Anyway
Where we’ll have a job for you
C L Couch
(Horace Greeley may not have been the first saying it, though he said it famously in July of 1865)
Photo by Chor Tsang on Unsplash
The Old West
[before it was new]
(x = space)
x
x
A Friday in October of 1492
x
He got no farther west
Than Panama,
Nine days’ journey to another ocean
And an open way (it was
presumed)
To China—
This country but a way station
To the eastern lands
Of Asia,
A new sailing away
Needs driving to exist
x
But the nine days would have
Been spent over land
(for now),
And he wanted ships
To make the journey
x
So he demurred
And then refused,
Returning to the boats
He knew well,
Even if he did not understand
The world he had found
For Europe to exploit
x
The Taino people killed,
An exchange of diseases
Gold taken
And new spices
God is offered
By the sword
x
All our legacies
Over here
What is there to say
But that this is us,
All of us,
On land and over water,
Then and now
West of east
x
C L Couch
x
x
Columbus, the Lost Voyage
based on the work of Martin Dugard
narrated by Edward Hermann
(a ritual for watching
and for hearing)
x
Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash
Theoline, Pier 11 or 12, East River, Manhattan. 1936
x
Younger
Once I went out west
Well, twice I guess
The first time I was two
I do have memories
I dreamed about the second time
Last night
Only I went there now
Knowing what I knew
So that I might avoid mistakes
And, you now, I did
I’ve heard it said I wouldn’t change a thing
I would change so many things
Sometimes to thwart agenda
Mostly to get it right
To keep the pain from happening
So much
If that would daunt a butterfly or upset
The schedule of tsunami,
Then it’s good I don’t have the talent
But I would like to fox many things
Or preventively
Offer something better in the first place
For all concerned
Color me uninteresting
I would dull the pain
Treat the wound by having it
Not happen
C L Couch
https://pixabay.com/en/cacti-flora-flowers-pot-pot-plants-1846147/
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