An Abandoned Pioneer Cabin

An Abandoned Pioneer Cabin By Elton Camp There it is, way off to the right side A home where a family did reside I mightn’t have seen as I drove by Except a chimney still stood high I wonder who, with labor and care Took the time to construct it there The best stones were set aside All found on the mountainside People could only use what was free Chimney from rocks, logs from tree Although he was not very skilled Each man his own house did build Only a single room it once had been Sheltering a young couple within But as the nascent family grew They added rooms, one, then two There was no mortgage to pay Such wasn’t the pioneer way Luxuries they never knew Nor any “Joneses” to outdo It was much the same everywhere People lived simply, free from care There wasn’t any reason to feel bad You don’t miss what you never had There it was still possible to tell Where the family had dug a well A pile of ruins did betray Place where the privy lay The family’s barn collapsed long ago Scattered, rotted logs its location show The cabin has been empty many years Never again to see either joy or tears And when more time has passed There will be no trace of it at last When the chimney crumbles away To eras of time the place falls prey To me it really seems a shame, though A family lived there but none will know Thus, each time that I pass by That place I notice with a sigh