DEAR ROY

You won’t believe how the world has changed.
It’s hardly fifty years since you rode the ranch
and yet you wouldn’t know this place today.

There are million dollar condos up on Ambush Ridge
where you and Dale and Pat Brady and Trigger, Buttercup
and NellyBelle, Pat’s Jeep, all showed up in the nick of time
to round up rustlers and bank robbers and murdering thieves.

And that hidden valley below the pines
has been paved over and stocked with stores
that cater to people too busy to cook meals
at the chuck wagon for themselves.

And those back woods logging trails
where the pheasant and partridge ran plenty
are filled with blue swimming pools
and swing sets, covered sand boxes and such.

Those pure water falls that flowed freely
from the hills have been dammed and piped
underneath the pre-fab mega movieplex
where they show naked people on the screens.

No, you wouldn’t recognize this place any more.
And except for the memory of you galloping wild and free.
I can’t think of any other reason to be here
Except to see first-hand how nature was robbed
when you weren’t looking.

AMERICAN BOY Pushing Sixty
- By Anthony Buccino
Copyright © 2010 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.
Trigger for sale
******************