Yesterday and Today, a poem by J.M. Metcalf

Yesterday and Today

Along the dry, deep-rutted prairie trail
The dusty oxen swung with toiling tread;
Behind, the prairie schooner, in full sail,
With creak and rumble followed as they led,
Heaped high with all the settler called his own,
The household treasures of the pioneer
Who left behind the settled land and the known
And faced the unknown west without a fear.

Over a brick-paved, clean-swept city street,
Where once the creaking, ox-drawn wagon went,
By deafening horn and gong's quick clanging beat
Far heralded, and circled 'round with scent
Of gasoline, the motor car now speeds.
With whiz of whirling wheels, with search-light's glare,
With dizzy haste that no obstruction heeds,
The settler's son enjoys the evening air.

^__J. M. Metcalf.

____________________

Originally published in the Kansas Magazine
(November 1909)