Lay the tracks, step aside I’m headed out the door
Call freedom’s ride through purple hills and amber
Morning skies
Cross Rocky Mountain passageways and Pueblo lands
And Samuel Clemens’ Hannibal where culture seeps
In Mississippi eddies
The diner and the road side stop, the Walmart and the
Ihop all bustle with the rural life
I look for in my literature
The irony of education, and educating
Comes to mind—
I’d rather be a farmer and a writer in my mind.
Cross the Appalachian carpetway and head straight
East indeed
Independence Hall awaits with promises and steed.
Gallop onward, horsepower of modern man
Lead me to Philadelphia
So different, oh, so new.
It’s not the state I dream of
All that I have obtained
The birthright of a native born
The rock, the hill, the swain
The redwoods—slumbering giants there
Outside my castle door—
Oh, Philadelphia, I’d flee to thee
If home I’d come for sure.
Word Play 