Alone

He came out of the west riding slowly, the sun and sand did their best to make him wish he had never begun this quest He left Ohio when barely a teen, nary a thought to what he left behind, a hundred acre farm, a father with a switch for an arm, a mother, pain and hardship aged beyond her years, now at forty three, tired and forlorn, seeking stability, begins the long trek home The trail before him offers little hope, sagebrush undulates in the wake of dust devils fashioned by rising heat, face blistered, lips cracked, dry, overexposed, offer no relief, until sunset, and the cool of the night Weeks on the trail, his will to prevail broken as the desert becomes his destiny, longing for what he will never have again, the love of a woman to hold and comfort him, memories rush before him as reliving again, fade, are quickly forgotten, his body decaying, bones bleached and polished by wind and sun, his quest to be forever pending, his horse finally moves on, so far from home, he dies alone