Stage To San Francisco

The stagecoach is loaded and the driver is rarin' to go, To start that long, rugged trek to the town of San Francisco! People are crammed inside and half a dozen on the roof. The horses are snortin' and stompin' eager to take to hoof! The driver cracks his whip and they're off in a neck-snappin' lurch, Those hapless souls on top holdin' tight to their precarious perch! The driver urges the team on with raucous and colorful swearin'! A mother covers the tender ears of her tot to stifle its hearin'! Sittin' and jostlin' knee-to-knee are characters of every variety. Some with high-toned mores, others livin' on the edge of society! There's a preacher clutchin' his Bible, so eager to pontificate, Elbow-to-elbow with a gambler waitin' for a sucker to bait! Sittin' prim and proper is a newly-minted school marm. Next to her a soiled dove seekin' new territory to charm! Lollin' on her shoulder is a drunk, passed out, white as a ghost! A lonely soldier stares at the bleak landscape, goin' to his new post. There's a dreamy-eyed young miner certain he'll strike a rich vein, A steely-eyed outlaw eyes those 'round him with alert disdain! A doctor with elixirs and nostrums packed in his medicine chest; Each a pioneer seeking new horizons in the great untamed west! Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired (© All Rights Reserved_)