(*Inspired by this shot of a famous abandoned ranch near the Grand Tetons)
There’s an old ranch down the road
A sometimes-refuge from the snow
Feel its soft-hard shrubs
Scrape at your feet
Hear cracked windows whistling
There’s an old ranch just down the road
Where I grew up, or so I’m told
Landscaped with mountain silhouettes
Where forest-fire memories glow
Fueled with things I felt there long ago
There’s an old ranch just down the road
Mostly prairie dogs live there now
There’s one fertile mound
Of innocent yearning sand
Buried by snow-dusted badlands
There’s an old ranch down the road
Interloping as hallowed abode
Be careful now, don’t stay too long
It may shelter you from cleansing rain
But it won’t shelter you from pain
It won’t shelter you from pain
No, it will never shelter you from pain
THE ROUGH DRAFT 