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A Ballad of Fortune

“Be brave now, my darlin’,
We’re migrating West!
Let’s pack up our wagon
And then take a rest.
Tomorrow we’re starting—
At sunrise, is best.”

“But, Jimmy, I’m frightened,”
His young wife, she said.
“The perils are many;
We might end up dead.
I won’t have a kitchen!
I can’t bake our bread.”

“We’ll have an adventure!”
He tried to explain.
“Our horses will lead us
Through snow and the rain.
We’ll reach Sacramento.
There’s gold for the gain!”

Some settlers did find it,
The silver or gold.
But not so young Jimmy;
His prospects grew cold.
Perhaps in Alaska?
He wasn’t that bold!

So, learning his lesson,
That gold was a bust,
He polished his rifles
(Beginning to rust)
And hunted down rabbits.
That surely was just!

The skins of the rabbits,
He tanned in the shade
And sewed into blankets,
His wife to his aid.
And soon, very quickly,
A fortune they made—
Supplying the peddlers
Who dealt in the trade!

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Margaret Brinton has lived in San Diego’s inland valley area for over forty years where she taught and tutored. Her poems have recently been published in California Quarterly and Westward Quarterly and The Lyric with upcoming work in the greeting card industry.

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4 Responses

  1. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Interesting ballad and one that represents the struggles of many who migrated westward. While failing to find the gold, they succeeded in other ways such as my uncle and aunt who did well in planting an orange grove near Santa Paula. I suppose one could say they found gold in another sense.

    Reply
    • Margaret Brinton

      Thank you, Roy. There is , indeed, a variety of “gold” to be discovered in this state that I have claimed as home for 50 years. Our family’s property contained fruit trees such as lemon, orange, Fuji apple, Asian pear, Bartlett pear, peach and olive.

      Reply
  2. Paul Freeman

    I can see this as a three-hour epic movie, Margaret. What fun you could have with the husband and wife getting to grips with gold panning, hunting and cooking.

    Thanks for a read that takes the reader back to a simpler, more adventurous time and place.

    Reply
    • Margaret Brinton

      Thank you , Roy. Despite the disturbing state of the world, a person can still find a bit of harmony in simplicity. Simplistic as this ballad is.

      Reply

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