I left my old home and my friends in the East, Ambitious to better my fortunes, forsooth; And seek amid scenes of the strenuous West, The gold which had gilded the dreams of my youth.
But gold not alone, was the dochus mo chree Which painted that faraway country so fair; A lure more compelling was beckoning me — The maiden I loved since my childhood was there!
I did what a man without money must do, Just walked when the “brakies” were looking too sharp. I sang when I felt in the humor,‘ tis true — When lonesome, like David I hung up my harp!
I envied the lot of the fellow inside, Who traveled in comfort asleep or awake; While I, of all comfort and slumber denied, Was beating my way on the beam of a brake!
Thus onward I journeyed by night and by day, Combating the problems of food and of rest — Content as I traveled the wearisome way To know I was nearing the wonderful West.
My pilgrimage, first uneventful and slow, Changed color as Texas’ vast reaches I struck. Arizona the arid, and New Mexico — Half hell and half heaven, were also my luck.
When tortured and weak by the heat of the sand, And swollen my tongue and the water was done, I wondered no more as I passed through the land At the myriad bones bleaching white in the sun.
Yes, on as I plodded the limitless range, In that land of hot sand and eternal clear skies, How oft in my thirst did I long for a change To my own native hills, where the watersprings rise!
O Compton beloved! what visions arose, Of thy hills and dark vales and thy cold mountain streams! And each fountain-like fuadhran which bubbles and flows, On the farm back at home in the land of my dreams!
Some tell me the beauty of Nature, abroad, Surpasses in grandeur the country we boast — They'd alter their views if they traversed the road I wearily tramped on my way to the “Coast”.
There may be a spot in some faraway clime Where Nature in robes of perfection is dressed; But give me her moods and her image sublime As seen in the wild, woolly wastes of the West!
I slept with the red men who roam through that land — Gaunt remnant that tells of the white man's abuse; And often, although I could not understand, Was I lulled by the soft clucking language they use.
We never took thought on occasions like these Of the dangers which lurked as we lay on the ground — Though the howl of coyote was borne past on the breeze, And the rattlesnake coiled with an ominous sound!
Asleep‘ neath the stars of that beautiful clime, In the shadowy gloom that same mesa had cast, Undisturbed in my slumbers, I'd dream of the time When the long dreary miles still ahead would be passed.
Mysterious mesas! how ghostly ye loom! How spectral and huge o'er the alkali waste; The secrets of ages thy vastness entomb, Are seemingly safe in thy mystical breast!
When shadows of even’ crept over the land, And mountains around me grew ghostly and grey, The fringe of the foothills I anxiously scanned For lithe, tawny forms ever prowling for prey.
Oft during my journey I fancied that rain Fell cool from a cloud on my thirst-swollen lips; Yet cloudless the sky o'er that quivering plain — ‘ Twas the last ray of hope undergoing eclipse!
At times would the lure of this mirage prevail, Till, reason returning, I'd hasten me back; For I knew the safe trail was to follow the rail Gleaming hot in the sun on the Santa Fe track!
The phantoms of fever thus beckoned in vain, Where better and stronger than I had been lost; Though the hell of Mohave was scorching my brain, I crossed it in safety and struck for the Coast.
O boundless Pacific! I deem it no loss To flee to thy arms from the cactus and sand; How sweet on thy deep, heaving bosom to toss After parching so long in the alkali land!
I boarded a schooner that slopped in the bay — A tub of a ship for Seattle outbound — And up from old Frisco we wallowed our way To lovely Seattle, the Queen of the Sound.
And there on a hill, in a beautiful spot, Overlooking Lake Union's low murmuring wave, The love of my youth, whom so long I had sought, Alone among strangers I found — in her grave!
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