Heeding the call out west

Leaving your world behind

Seemed to be a noble quest

Uncertain of what you would find

Spirit reclaimed and full of zest

Searching for areas yet to be mined

Hoping family and friends would be impressed

On your tired back the sun brightly shined

Capitalism's beckoning light

Brought out all sorts of greed

Willing to put up the brave fight

Worried about a family to feed

Hard to chase dreams in the dead of night

Hitching hopes to a stake and a deed

Each man carries around his own plight

A goldrush is where strange bedfellows breed

Journeys coincidentally diverging

Hopes reaching ultimate highs

Rollercoaster of emotional purging

Wealth and prosperity the prize

Continuing forth at your greed's urging

Telling yourself comforting lies

Avarice and self-loathing suddenly merging

Underneath pale moonlit skies

Hitching a wagon and a saddle

Crossing the country with pride in tow

Surviving the loneliness a constant battle

Aspiring to view gold's precious glow

Tuning out all annoying prattle

The trek is painstakingly slow

Wondering if you should just skedaddle

Return home with a sad tale of woe

Telling lies in the shadow of a flame

Selling yourself rather short

Out West is merely a game

A fool's type of bravado sport

At the closing bell nothing more than shame

And a pact of vengeance against a cohort

All in hopes of bringing luck to your downtrodden name

Still clinging to a ship in nearly any port

Pursuing a path less taken

Digging out of self-made ditches

Seemingly downtrodden and forsaken

Seeking out a wealth of riches

Hoping to bring home the proverbial bacon

The soothing aloe for what itches

Hopes of returning to normalcy taken

The best laid plans always have glitches

Trudging through quagmires

Becoming prosperous was the hope

They had to put out their internal fires

Figure out a new manner to cope

Those who told tales of wealth were liars

Many a man tied to the end of his rope

Chasing fool's gold drags and it tires

Tough to traverse a slippery slope

Heading out west was all the rage

Thoughts of the elusive second chance

The difficulties they did incorrectly guage

All of those cans turned into cant's

Giving up an honest day's integrity and wage

No longer able to don a confident stance

All the world is indeed a frightening stage

And they were all left without a partner for the dance

Despite the rumours, all that shimmers is not gold

Life tends to throw us a whole slew of curves

You have to play your hand, it's a sin to fold

When life throws you more trouble, calm those nerves

The days can become quite long, the nights quite cold

The wisest of men sees a mile ahead and carefully swerves

The trek out west was fraught with peril and dreams sold

Standing up straight is paramount, no matter what life serves

They went Out West in search of something better

What they found was a hole in their thought

Tears constantly staining their hesitant letter

A mess of trouble is what they actually bought

Dreams cascading downhill faster than a bobsledder

Never truly attaining that which they ardently sought

In the end it mattered not if you were a go-getter

Everywhere you looked was another man's plot

Learn more about this author, Bobby Coles.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

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