West we're headed. Won't turn back.
We're rolling onward toward a sun
that's hanging golden in the sky
and we'll not stop till Oregon.
Not one of us don't have big dreams
of settling on some fertile soil
which we can claim for ever more
and worthy of man's sweat and toil.
We left St. Joe four months ago,
stayed by the Platte to Laramie.
Done left that fort and crossed high plains.
Them's snow-capped peaks out there we see.
It ain't been easy this long trek.
We've suffered much, ain't had much rest.
But end of day we pray to Him,
"Oh, Lord, please guide us safely West."
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| Writing Prompt |
Write a poem that begins and ends with the same word. |
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Start and Ends The Same
Contest Winner
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Author Notes
Albert Bierstadt's painting "Emigrants Crossing the Plains" (1867)
Redefined by territorialexpansion in the mid 1800s, the boundary of the American West shifted from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, fueled largely by exploration and emigration along the Oregon Trail, among others. Over the course of fifty years, almost 400,000 people traveled the 2,170-mile route, leaving their farms along the East Coast in hopes of securing fertile land in the Oregon Territory. American artist Albert Bierstadt documented his journey on the trail, capturing the dramatic panoramas and indomitable spirit of the emigrants on his oversized canvases. With their rich colors and pristine details, these romanticized images roused an already fascinated American public to begin their own westward adventure.
(This info is courtesy of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Google)
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