Relics

by Raymond Nelson

 
The skeletons of vanished dreams
Lie scattered on the plains
As broken windmills, weathered walls
Stand idly near grown lanes.

The isolated ruins stand
Mute witness to a past
When sturdy pioneers grew roots
And built as though to last.

But droughts and storms came cycling on
And one by one dreams died,
And slowly, one by one, men left,
And left their houses wide.

Such relics of a bygone day
Speak silently of loss,
Of broken hearts and homes and lives --
As bitter as a cross.

Source: .. and the Kansas Wind Blows
Raymond S. Nelson   -   1991

Kansas:  Poetry  History  Towns  Counties  Colleges  Libraries  Museums
July 3, 1997 / John & Susan Howell / Wichita, Kansas / howell@kotn.org

Blue Skyways Blue Skyways   Visit the Home Page for Kansas
  A service of the Kansas State Library