Pioneers

Echos of long past haunt my thoughts as the verdant valley stretches before my light dazzled eyes I imagine the pioneers forging ahead and what I see now are the remains of these trails they forged marked as wagon wheels indelebley upon the ground I imagine the women in their hooded coverings stirring up pots of baked beans but Annie Oakley probably was never indited for stooping to that low the wild west was not for the faint hearted as Indians rode roughshod over soldiers who wore their brave hearts upon muskets of forged steel hammering out triumphant blissful sounds of conquest these days were both exciting and grueling testing the mettle of women and of men as they eaked out their existence time and time again.