Sonnet #59

Before there was the highway there were trains

That cut a bloody path across the continent

Conestoga wagons like ships across the plains

Trailed campfires, carcasses, and gravemark indents

Before the wagon was the precious pony ridden

Ride out into the black and naked mountains

Where before the horse was only moccasins

Naked feet, and cougar paws -- dinosaur remains

Before there were the dinosaurs, the rivers ran

Amphibious creatures crawled and jumped aground

Before the frogs and mudskippers, no man

had ever come this way before, no other sound

Drive your highways if you must to meet him

But no highway keeps the centuries -- wheels spin