ELDORADO DREAMING

Eldorado dreaming  - - - -
    This ancient land remembers
    Massive earth upheaval,   rivers form and fill.
    The coming of the black man, the European explorer
    The first sheep in the valley,   the first plough
          turn the soil.


Eldorado,   frenzied  - - - -
    A roaring mining village
    Clanking buckets rising,   thudding stamping -mills.
    Shouting teamsters reining dusty toiling horses
    Troopers barking orders,   crowded rough hotels.


Eldorado,   drowsy
    Long golden days of summer,
    Sleepy  little township cradled by the ageless
          hills,
    Old dredge crouching idle in the quiet shadowed
          creek bed
    Where swallows skim bright water,   dipping questing
          bills.


Eldorado,   peaceful  - - - -
    Post office,   store and tavern
    Garden,   orchard,   farmland - - echoes linger still
    A miner's pick heard tapping,   a windlass slowly
          creaking,
    Voices floating faintly - tribal hunters on the
          hill.