Bear Mountain Widow's Tale

Sweeping the dust and mud From plank floors--mending and quilting Needles, thread, and braiding scrapes Baking days and washing Mondays Tubs of water, fires and aching backs The cabin sitting small In the shadows of redwoods and pines It was harder and lonelier Then I ever could have known Laying in the light less nights Listening to the creaks and groans For I was young and foolish once Filled with the girlish dreams and hopes Of loving eternally and making a home It was harder and lonelier Then I ever could have known Those dreams faded through the years In the salty fog of the hardship, the dust, The tears.